Rural areas to get financial services
The Department of Posts will extend financial services to people living in remote and interior villages of Madurai region. Banking services, including micro-credit and housing loans will be offered to rural people, the Director of Postal Services, Southern Region, Sushil Kumar, has said.
He was speaking at a function to mark the silver jubilee celebrations of the southern region at district post office here on Friday. Already, distribution of micro-credit offered by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to self-help groups had been extended as a pilot model at Karaikudi. This model would be replicated in Sivaganga shortly.
As many as 200 SHGs had been identified to provide micro-credit link in Sivaganga. The distribution would commence soon, Mr. Kumar said. Similarly, the Department of Posts and the State Bank of India would extend select services such as housing loans to villages where bank services is still a distant dream, Mr. Kumar said.
The post offices had already been selling and distributing mutual funds and insurance products. ‘Our presence in the rural and semi-urban areas is our strength,’ he added.
Automation of post offices in the district was almost complete. It was done without reducing the staff strength. Another specialty was that the grievances of people would be displayed on the website and officials concerned would reply immediately.
Earlier, Mr. Kumar distributed prizes to winners of various competitions held as part of the celebrations and insurance policies to rural clients. Agents who had achieved the target were also honoured.
