A recent press report said that Union Bank of India has launched a financial inclusion initiative called ‘Unioninclusions,’ which includes five schemes. The Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, inaugurated the initiative in Mumbai.
Mr. Mukherjee, at the inauguration function, asked the banks to pursue technological innovations in order to reach out to the poor and marginalised households.
The five schemes under ‘union inclusions’ includes
- opening of 11 specialised financial inclusion branches across six States
- biometric card-to-card remittance facility for migrant labourers
- mobile van banking to extend banking services to unbanked villages in Orissa
- Launch of a comic back series for spreading financial literacy among rural masses and solar power of Union Adarsh Gram.
It is not known whether the bank would use this channel to provide credit facilities like agricultural loan, or even small sized personal loan.
Mr M. V. Nair, Chairman and Managing Director, Union Bank, said that the bank’s branch network would cross the 3,000 landmark with the opening of financial inclusion branches. He added saying that the bank has planned to open 100 more such branches across the country by the end of this year.