Andhra Pradesh: All set for Banking services at Rythu Bharosa Kendras, to begin from today

The Andhra Pradesh government's ambitious Rythu Bharosa Kendras are all set to become mini-banks. Farmers are already receiving all kinds of services from the agriculture and allied sectors through RBKs and from now on, banking services will reach out to farmers as well as people from all walks of life. According to RBI regulations, banks are required to be set up in villages if it contains a population of 5,000. However, with the merger of the banks, there is no chance of setting up new banks. In place of the bank branch, various banks have set up business correspondents to provide services in some villages. However, these services have been set up in RBKs to make banking services more accessible to rural people. There are 877 farmer assurance centers in the district.

There are 804 business correspondents for various banks through which the Lead District Manager (LDM) has made arrangements to provide banking services within RBK and completed mapping of business correspondents with RBKs. Banking transactions will be conducted at RBK from the 26th of this month. The LDM has already issued guidelines to all banks. As ATMs are not set up in rural areas, people have to go to distant banks to withdraw cash or deposit cash, which can lead to serious costs. From now on, the availability of banking services at RBK will be helpful to people.

Withdrawals, deposits, and cash transfers through RBKs will be available from Monday. Cash up to Rs. 20,000 can be withdrawn from RBK through Business Correspondent while up to Rs 20,000 can be deposited in cash and can make cash transfers up to Rs.10,000. The working hours of business correspondents will be decided soon. They will provide online banking services through the swiping machines and tabs given to them by the banks.