Page 8 - Banking Finance May 2021

BANK UPDATE

including media regarding hike in SBI 380.7 million as of April 2020, showed Banking BC agents in the state of Uttar
Home Loans Interest Rates. In this data from the PMJDY website. This is Pradesh."
regard we clarify that limited period the aggregate of public sector banks, Notably, the project, being
special concessions offered during regional rural banks and private banks. implemented, is part of UPSRLM's
festive season have come to an end on Although on a net basis, Jan Dhan mission to on-board and prioritises
31 March, 2021 and thereafter accounts at private banks saw a Women as BC (Business
withdrawn." decline of more than 55,000, some Correspondent) Sakhis or Banking
As per SBI, there is no hike in the home individual private banks recorded Agents across all the districts of the
loan interest rates. The bank states steeper contractions. state. Vakrangee is one of the partners
that the original interest rates starting For instance, ICICI Bank Ltd, one of and facilitators engaged for the
from 6.95% have been restored. India's largest private-sector lenders, project to onboard and provide training
However, the special concessions ended the fiscal with 278,522 fewer and handholding to these BC Sakhis.
offered to the women borrower is Jan Dhan bank accounts than in April The project is aimed at improving
continuing. last year. Others such as Karur Vysya banking access in rural UP and
Previously, SBI had waived off home Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, RBL Bank enhancing the household income of
loan processing fees till March 31, 2021 and Yes Bank also saw a similar trend, women members.
to cash in on festive fervour. During the albeit of varying proportions.
limited period, the bank offered home Cyber fraudsters using
loan starting from 6.70% for loans up Vakrangee tie up with BoB novel trick on net banking
to Rs. 75 lakh and 6.75% for loans in to appoint 1,554 women The Bhopal cyber police have recently
the range of Rs. 75 lakh to Rs. 5 crore. issued an advisory for the customers
SBI also gave a 100% waiver on business correspondents who use Internet banking. Fraudsters
processing fees. Sakhis in UP are cheating users using a simple trick.

Vakrangee Limited has recently The SBI has also issued an alert for its
State-run banks prop up
partnered with Bank of Baroda for customers.
Jan Dhan as private appointing Women BC Sakhis and Yogesh Choudhary, ADG, Cyber Cell,
lenders falter providing Banking services in Uttar has stated that the fraudsters first get
Pradesh. As per the regulatory filing,
According to the data. the state-run Vakrangee will be working with the the login ID and password of the
banks of India helped drive the tally of BoB for the Uttar Pradesh State Rural banking app. Then, they transfer some
Jan Dhan bank accounts in the year Livelihood Mission to appoint and amount into the e-term deposit/
ended March 31, offsetting a weaker onboard 1554 BC Sakhis in the electronic special term deposit
performance by private lenders in the Raebareli and Lucknow districts of account. To perform such transactions,
government's flagship financial Uttar Pradesh. no OTP is required and a new fixed
inclusion programme. deposit account comes into existence.
Dinesh Nandwana, MD & Group CEO,
Launched in August, 2014, the Vakrangee Ltd., remarked, And, in the main account, the amount
Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana aims shows debited. After creation of the
"Vakrangee has always been a
to provide universal access to banking Responsible and Socially conscious new FD account, an SMS is released in
services with at least one basic bank company. Gender Equality is which the details of the e-IDR/e-STOR
account for every household. Private fundamental to our philosophy and are mentioned. After reading the SMS,
banks counted 55,349 fewer Jan Dhan core DNA of being a social equalizer. the account-holder finds out that the
bank accounts as of end-March, We strive to build a workplace culture amount had been withdrawn. From
compared to the start of FY21. State- with gender Diversity and believe it is there, the racketeers start calling the
run lenders, meanwhile, continued to core to the success and growth of our account-holders.
power the programme's reach. company. We are happy and honoured They pretend to be bank officials and
As of March 24, 2021 the total number to announce this partnership with say importantly that they have the full
of such basic savings accounts stood at Bank of Baroda which enables us to details of the account-holder. At this,
420.8 million for all banks, up from focus and prioritize having Women the account-holder falls into their trap

8 | 2021 | MAY | BANKING FINANCE