Prime Minister Modi dedicates 75 Digital Banking Units to the country

Tags: Economy/Finance

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated 75 Digital Banking Units (DBUs) in 75 districts of the country on 16 October 2022 virtually. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das also participated virtually. DBU is a joint initiative of the Government of India, the RBI, the Indian Banks Association and the participating banks.

Nirmala Sitharaman in her budget speech 2022-23 announced the setting up of 75 Digital Banking Units (DBU) in the 75 districts of the country to commemorate the 75 years of Independence. 

The setting up of the DBU is a step in strengthening financial inclusion in the country. DBUs will enable customers to have cost-effective, convenient access and enhanced digital experience of banking products and services throughout the year.

How many banks are involved in the project? 

11 Public Sector Banks, 12 Private Sector Banks and one Small Finance Bank are participating in the endeavour. 

What is a Digital Banking Unit?

• A digital banking unit (DBU) is a specialised business unit of a bank that houses certain minimum digital banking products and services.
• The products and services in these Units will be provided in two modes, namely, self-service and assisted modes (bank staff will help the customer), with self-service mode being available 24x7.
• According to the RBI, banks are also free to engage the services of digital business facilitators and business correspondents to expand the footprint of the DBUs.

Service provided by DBU 

According to the RBI the DBU units can provide following services;

• It will provide certain minimum digital banking products and services including account opening, providing digital kits to customers and merchants, as well as cash withdrawal and deposit services. insurance, investment facilities  to its customers,
• It will  onboard retail and MSME(Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) loan customers,
• It will  provide end-to-end digital processing of small ticket retail and MSME loans, starting from online applications to disbursals, 
•  The DBUs will also provide services related to certain identified government sponsored schemes,
• They will spread Digital Financial Literacy and special emphasis will be given to customer education on cyber security awareness and safeguards. 

Indian Bank Association

• The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) was formed on September 26, 1946 with 22 members. As of April, 2018 the total Membership of the Association is 239.
• It includes Public sector Bank, Private Sector Banks, Foreign Banks, Co-operatives, Regional Rural Bank, and All India Financial Institutions.
•  It is a representative body of banks in India to promote and develop in India sound and progressive banking principles, practises and conventions and to contribute to the developments of creative banking.
• It helps the government in formulating Human Resources policy for the banking sector.

Current Chairman:  Punjab National Bank’s  MD & CEO Atul Kumar Goel is the chairman of the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) 

Headquarters of IBA: Mumbai