Odisha: ICICI Bank Limited, India’s largest private sector bank, today announced the launch of ‘Branch on Wheels’ in Odisha, as part of its financial inclusion plan that aims at providing banking services in villages which are so far devoid of banking facilities.

The ‘Branch on Wheels’ is a first of its kind initiative by any private sector bank in India. It was inaugurated at Bhubaneswar in Odisha by Mr. Naveen Patnaik, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha and Mr. Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director of ICICI Bank.

 Mr. Naveen Patnaik, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Odisha, who was the Chief Guest at the launch function said, “Financial inclusion is a key focus area for Odisha and I am very happy to see ICICI Bank partner with the state government to play a strong role in this area. This unique initiative of Branch on Wheels will go a long way to provide basic banking services to the remote unbanked villages in the state.”

Mr. Rajiv Sabharwal, Executive Director of ICICI Bank said, ”ICICI as a Group has always taken a holistic approach to provide financial services in rural and remote areas. In line with this approach, we have already launched 440 branches across the country to provide basic banking services in villages which are devoid of banking facilities. Today’s launch of ‘Branch on Wheels’ is yet another step of the Bank to expand its reach to the unbanked villages.”

The ‘Branch on Wheels’ is a mobile branch with an ATM. It offers a wide range of banking products and services such as savings accounts, loans, cash deposit/withdrawal, account balance enquiries, statement printing and funds transfer/DD/PO collections, among others.

The ‘Branch on Wheels’ will be operated on a van. It will be stationed at specific timings of the day in pre-identified, unbanked villages at specified locations. It is equipped with a GPS tracking system, laptops with 3G connections, LED TV, a safe, a printer, public announcement system, an UV Lamp that detects forged cheques, a note counting-cum-authentication machine that identifies fake currency notes and a unique low weight ATM.

Two ICICI Bank officials and a guard will manage the ‘Branch on Wheels’. The nearest branch of the Bank will act as the parent branch of the ‘Branch on Wheels’, routing all the cash and transactions for it. The ‘Branch on Wheels’ which has been launched in Bhubaneswar today is mapped to the parent branch at Hinjilicut(Ganjam district) and Bhedabahal(Sundergarh district). It will cover nine unbanked villages namely Gandala,Palasi,Dobadi and Sahapur (Ganjam district) and Lankahuda, Kopsinga, Rupidihi, Kirei and Kandabahal (Sundergarh district).

Odisha is the third state where ICICI Bank has expanded its ‘Branch on Wheels’ network after Maharashtra in September 2013 and Chhattisgarh in February 2014.

The launch of ‘Branch on Wheels’ at Bhubaneswar augments the Bank’s wide range of initiatives undertaken in Odisha and signifies its commitment for extending banking services to the remote locations in the state. The Bank recently also launched collection of state government taxes through its branches and internet banking platform.

The Bank has an extensive network of over 200 ATMs and 80 branches in the state, including four branches in unbanked villages. The Bank also operates a 24X7 Electronic Branch at Kharbela Nagar, Bhubaneswar which was launched in August,2012.

The Bank has nearly 800 rural branches, including 440 in the hitherto unbanked areas. In Odisha, the Bank has opened 20 lakhs basic savings accounts and has a network of 229 business correspondents bringing banking services to around 1400 villages.