Commonwealth Secretariat teams up with Corp Bank

The Commonwealth Secretariat has teamed up with the Corporation Bank to help deliver access to credit for young persons and women living in rural areas of India for enterprise development activities.

The teaming was conceptualised after Corporation Bank Chairman and Managing Director Ramnath Pradeep delivered a talk on ‘Financial Inclusion as a tool for Sustainable Enterprise Development and Poverty Alleviation: The Corporation Bank Experience’ at Commonwealth Secretariat’s Headquarters, London on November 19, 2010.

The presentation was chaired by Commonwealth Assistant Secretary-General Steve Cutts.
The CMD said that a Youth Entrepreneurship Programme to be delivered in partnership with the Secretariat will be piloted in India.

“This programme will act as a model for other Commonwealth countries in demonstrating a sustainable method of ensuring young people have access to finance. Modalities of the programme will be worked out between the two organisations and the programme will be formally launched soon,” he said.

In his paper, the CMD said that Corporation Bank has come out with the idea of Branchless Banking  through Business Correspondents for the convenience of those who do not have proper access to finance and those who live in rural India.

 “The aim of this project is to take technology to the doorstep of villages,”said the CMD adding that this will bring prosperity to rural India and will go a long way towards bridging the rural-urban divide.

“Financial Inclusion is considered critical for achieving inclusive growth. It addresses three major problems, faced especially by rural communities, which are access to financial services, affordability of such services and the actual utilization of these services,” said Steve Cutts