In tribal villages of Navsari, there is satellite TV but no banks

IDFC Foundation partners with Vasudhara Dairy to bring financial inclusion to the region

The narrow, deserted roads of Mogarwadi village, situated in Navsari district in one of the tribal belts of Gujarat, lead up to a milk collection centre where residents sell their milk in the morning to Vasudhara Dairy. While Vasudhara deposits payments for the milk procurement directly into the Jan Dhan accounts of the villagers, withdrawing the cash is not an easy task as the nearest bank branch is located at least 10 km from the village.

Moreover, there is no public transport from the village to the branch.

Now, however, the village milk centre will double as a banking outlet with micro automated teller machines (ATMs), from which villagers will not only be able to withdraw cash, but also deposit and transfer money.

Mogarwadi is one of the 1,100 villages in Gujarat and Maharashtra identified by IDFC Foundation, the corporate social responsibility arm of IDFC Bank, to foster financial inclusion.

IDFC Foundation is installing micro ATMs which are bank agnostic — which means customers of any bank will be able to carry out transactions.

No paperwork will be required either, and Aadhaar, mobile phone, debit card, and bank account numbers will be used as multiple identifiers for transactions.

The IDFC group has collaborated with Vasudhara Dairy — the District Cooperative of Valsad that serves the tribal districts of Valsad, Navsari and Dang — for this financial inclusion drive in Maharashtra and Gujarat. The dairy procures as much as 8,00,000 litres of milk a day.

The objective is to facilitate financial services for the farmers, who were compelled to travel by foot for about 10 km to reach the bank branch. There is no public transport, but there are satellite television dishes atop rooftops of the half-built huts.

“The dairy sector within the rural landscape is an area which provides livelihood to many marginal, small and landless farmers,” N.S. Rajan, CEO of IDFC foundation, said. “Many of them have been excluded from the financial mainstream, and hence we have identified it as an area of large-scale social intervention.” Starting off with 100 milk centres, the idea is to expand the micro ATM facility to 1,100 over a span of two years. “Here, we will take the bank to the villagers,” he added.

N. Vashi, managing director of Vasudhara Dairy, said over 80% of the population in the villages is tribal and their income depends on dairy centres. “Sometimes, even after travelling long distances, villagers end up having to go back home empty-handed because there is no money available in the bank, and the bank officer tells them to come back the next day,” Mr. Vashi added.