MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Indian Bank Receives Skoch Financial Inclusion Award 2011 for “Self-Help Group (SHG) Initiatives – Urban Financial Inclusion”

Skoch Consultancy Services Private Limited, a strategic planning and management consulting firm based in India, has presented Indian Bank, a bank owned by the government of India, with the Skoch Financial Inclusion Award 2011 for its work serving self-help groups (SHGs) in urban areas.

Indian Bank opened a microfinance branch in 2007 in Dharavi, a slum in the suburbs of Mumbai, as a step towards providing financial services to migrant workers in unbanked urban areas. The “Know Your Customer” (KYC) compliance regulation of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) requires all Indian financial institutions to perform due diligence on their clients prior to doing business with them, which can be a problem for many poor people, especially those who have recently relocated. The innovation by Indian Bank is to obtain the required information on its prospective clients through the bank’s branches that are located in the native areas of the migrant workers.

As of Jan 2011, Indian Bank, in addition to its commercial branches, has 32 microfinance branches serving 400,000 SHGs with an outstanding loan portfolio of approximately INR 21 billion (USD 500 million) [1]. The bank provides financial services to 932 out of the 1168 slums that are in its area of operation [1].

By: Medha Ravi, Research Associate

About Indian Bank:
Indian Bank is a financial institution that was established in 1907 and nationalized by the government of India in 1969. As part its “Urban Financial Inclusion Initiative”, the bank opened exclusive microfinance branches in unbanked urban areas in 2007. As of March 2010, the bank has a total outstanding loan portfolio of INR 9.6 billion (USD 200 million) and total assets of INR 1 trillion (USD 20 billion).

About Skoch Consultancy Services Private Limited
Skoch Consultancy Services Private Limited is a strategic planning and management consulting firm based in India that was founded in 1997. The organization’s activities include providing consultancy services to its clients; conducting impact assessment studies in the Indian private sector; and organizing summits, round tables and focus groups. Skoch Consultancy Services Private Limited also distributes awards that recognize accomplishments in the fields of inclusive growth, corporate governance, capacity building, technology, academics and change management.

About Reserve Bank of India (RBI):
Established in 1935, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) undertakes supervision of the financial sector comprising commercial banks, financial institutions and non-banking finance companies. The current focus of RBI is to supervise financial institutions, consolidate accounting standards, resolve legal issues in banking fraud, monitor non-performing assets and supervise the rating model for the banking sector. RBI consists of twenty-two regional offices.

[1] Indian Bank Press Release: “Indian Bank Conferred with SKOCH Financial Inclusion Award 2011”, January 6 2011, http://www.indianbank.in/pdfs/press/PRESSRELEASE_06012011.pdf

Source and Resources:
Indian Bank Press Release: “Indian Bank Conferred with SKOCH Financial Inclusion Award 2011”, January 6 2011, http://www.indianbank.in/pdfs/press/PRESSRELEASE_06012011.pdf

MicroCapital.org story, January 11, 2010: “MICROCAPITAL BRIEF: Microfinance Branches Opened by Indian Bank and Canara Bank in Tamil Nadu, India, Allow Self-Help Groups to Gain Access to Credit”, https://www.microcapital.org/microcapital-brief-microfinance-branches-ope…

MicroCapital’s Microfinance Universe profile: Indian Bank, https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Ind…

MicroCapital’s Microfinance Universe profile: Skoch Consultancy Services Private Limited, https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Sko…

MicroCapital’s Microfinance Universe profile: Reserve Bank of India (RBI), https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/tiki-index.php?page=Reserve+Bank+of+India+%28RBI%29

Browse the MicroCapital Universe and add your entry to the wiki at: https://www.microcapital.org/microfinanceuniverse/

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