• Part of Swachch Banking CSR campaign, to educate rural population
  on perils of borrowing from the unorganised sector
• Dhanchayat vans to travel to 1200 villages in Punjab

NewZNew (Chandigarh) : HDFC Bank Ltd. today launched ‘Dhanchayat’ in Punjab. ‘Dhanchayat’ is an educational film created by the bank to raise awareness on the dangers of borrowing money from the unorganised sector, particularly in rural areas. This film has been launched under the aegis of Swachch Banking, the Bank’s latest CSR initiative.

Swachch Banking, aims to create a better understanding about clean and convenient banking available through the organised sector. Through the film, the bank will showcase to the rural population the importance of transparency in financial dealings as also the dignity and self-respect of the individual in the borrowing process.

HDFC Bank-branded Dhanchayat video vans will travel across East, West, South, North and Central India, covering thousands of villages across the country. The vans will stop at assembly points such as haats, bazaars, melas and village panchayats.

Punjab is the second state after Maharashtra where the bank is rolling out this initiative. The vans were flagged-off from the bank’s Chandigarh headquarters by Mr Govind Pandey, Branch Banking Head, HDFC Bank in the presence of Mr Harvinder Atma, Zonal Head, HDFC Bank and other senior bank officials. The bank will cover 1200 villages across the state.

The national launch of Dhanchayat took place in Mumbai, with the first van being flagged off by Mr Aditya Puri, MD, HDFC Bank and Mr Paresh Sukthankar, Deputy MD, from the Bank’s headquarters.

On a national level, the Bank will cover 5000 villages in phase 1, encouraging the local populace to join the organized banking sector in line with the government’s vision for financial inclusion. The vans will also have micro-ATMs with biometric facility fitted in them to enable instant e-KYC and Re-KYC using Aadhar.

Speaking at the launch event in Chandigarh, Mr Govind Pandey, Branch Banking Head, HDFC Bank said, “At HDFC Bank, we believe that to create real financial inclusion, we need to go beyond merely providing financial access. Our Board-mandated objective to support inclusive growth cannot be achieved in an environment where misinformation and a lack of familiarity with organized finance is pushing people towards unorganized sources of finance. Through Dhanchayat we hope to change this.”