SISCO reaches out cash to rural customers through mobile ATMs

KUNAL RAI
GANGTOK: The Sikkim State Co-Operative (SISCO) Bank has deployed mobile ATMs to assist customers at their doorsteps during the lockdown and eliminate the need to move out of their locality to withdraw cash.
Following up its financial literacy initiatives, the bank has disbursed around Rs.4 crore to customers through the mobile ATM facility during the coronavirus-induced lockdown period. The mobile ATMs are in addition to 14 onsite ATMs operated by the bank and is focussed to cater to the unbanked areas.
Considering the current lockdown period, the ATMs of the bank which includes both onsite and mobile ATMs have witnessed over forty thousand hits and 80 percent of those have been from the rural clientele, informed SISCO Bank AGM Deepak Tewari. He shared that the customers who were earlier depended on the passbook based transaction have now switched over to the digital process, thanks to the awareness campaigns undertaken by the bank since last year.
Customers of any bank with ATM card can avail the cash withdrawal facility from the mobile ATMs.
According to Tewari, the bank has organised more than 500 awareness camps starting from schools, villages and even gram sabhas to educate the unbanked masses and bring them into banking sector. In the second phase, SISCO encouraged the unbanked people into digital platform as the use of passbook banking and use of withdrawal slips are being obsolete slowly.
“Due to preparedness and timely intervention, the use of ATMs in rural bases has increased and the people are being benefitted. We have been catering the facility to rural people at different locations on a daily basis,” he said appealing to the panchayats to approach the bank for extension of banking facility.
The mobile ATM team is being led by managing director Pema Chenzom.
SISCO head office manager Chewang P Wangyal said, “we have a separate head that works in preparing the route map of the mobilization of the mobile ATMs and as of date, following the government directives of the lockdown, we are working with limited manpower maintaining social distancing within the bank and even during the disbursement of funds in the rural areas too.”
The beneficiaries of the mobile ATM facilities appreciated the initiative of SISCO as they are reaching out at the doorstep of the needy in the rural areas and availing financial transaction facility. “If this facility had not been in place it would have been very difficult for the account holders to avail cash. Similarly, the nearest ATM facility that exists is far away and it is not possible for us to walk all the way to avail cash and the movement of vehicles is halted completely,” said a customer.