In an effort to encourage digital transition in rural areas of India, Paytm Payments Banks announced a programme named “Paytm AshaKiran” which aims at educating women hailing from the countryside about financial service and therefore create new employment opportunities in less developed regions of India.
The first phase of this programme will consist of collaborating with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) under its Disha project which is also supported by the IKEA Foundation and women-related organizations like SHEROES. The goal is to “mobilize self-help groups and organize workshops” in smaller cities and towns in the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.
The initiative will develop rural women skills via a training programmes whereby participants will be rewarded with certificates enabling them to take up positions such as banking correspondents. These women will then be empowered to act as facilitator in the impending nationwide rollout of Paytm’s Bank offerings.
“The bank will continue partnering with other government bodies and other such organizations to reach more women across India,” the statement further added.
With this initiative, we aim to help women to understand the financial services sector and become self-reliant, to be a part of India’s mainstream economy. This programme will support and educate these women as they take their first steps towards financial inclusion,
shared Renu Satti, MD and CEO, Paytm Payments Bank.
Additionally, Paytm Payments Bank, recently launched several useful options such as Paytm KYC centres and Paytm Ka ATM to provide localized support to customers. Presently, customers can locate these centres on the ‘Nearby’ section of the Paytm app.
It also recruited partner agents responsible for visiting customers to finalize their KYC process. To make the KYC authentication process easier, the bank established a programmed that aims at empowering its partner outlets and agents to accept all government-issued identification documents for KYC, and not solely the Aadhaar card.
These initiatives are efforts from the bank to invest $500 Mn in KYC operations to open 500 Mn bank accounts by 2020. As Paytm Payments Bank is eyeing the rural demographic through women empowerment, the digital payments space is set to receive a huge boost with rural India turning digital as well.
The digital payments sector of India is expected to be worth $500 Bn by 2020 and will contribute to India’s GDP by 15%, according to statistics by Google and Boston Consulting Group. The report further adds that cashless transactions is expected to double in the coming three years.