Microfinance Focus, May 23, 2011: Launching ‘unioninclusion’, an initiative to deepen financial inclusion in India, one of the country’s largest nationalized banks, Union Bank has introduced five financial inclusion schemes to provide banking services in under-banked and unbanked villages in the country.

Announced by Union Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, the five initiatives include opening up of eleven specialized financial inclusion branches, biometric card-to-card remittance facility for migrant labour, Mobile Van Banking to extend banking reach to unbanked villages in Odisha, comic book series for spreading financial literacy among rural masses and solar powering of Union Adarsh Gram.

unioninclusions is an initiative by Union Bank of India as part of the nationwide Swabhimaan programme.

The proposed eleven branches will be monitoring the working of 20m customer services point each in the allotted villages. Under the Mobile Van Banking model, banking services would be provided through a van which will move from village to village on specified days. Travelling to unbaked villages, the Van would have the capacity to serve multiple villages each day of the week.

Pranab Mukhejee said in his address that initiatives announced under unioninclusions shows the commitment of the Bank in reaching out to the unbanked population. “… Launch of 11 Financial Inclusion branches to facilitate Financial Inclusion programme at the ground level is a significant step forward”, said Mukherjee.