K C Chakrabarty: Inclusion Champion of the Year

Punjab National Bank, under the leadership of K C Chakrabarty, has demonstrated how the rural poor, a hitherto excluded class, can be pulled into the mainstream by a little innovation. Tineri village in Bihar has discovered how the new branchless banking facility can liberate them from the clutches of local moneylenders while inculcating a banking habit. The local Panchayat has been successfully roped in to play the role of facilitating financial literacy. Each family in the village is provided with a biometric card, a thermal filter and a Near Field Communication mobile handset at a total cost of 110 rupees – half of which is expected to come from the state government as subsidy. In return, each customer is allowed to open a savings bank account with zero balance. The Tineri initiative is hailed as a ‘’holistic approach’’ towards providing basic banking facilities to the poorest of the poor leading to enhanced financial inclusion. Tineri is just one of the soon-to-be launched 27 pilot projects across 13 states in the Indo-Gangetic basin. Team Skoch visited Tineri recently to have a first hand experience.