Business Correspondents extend the mandate of banks to individual businesses through digital networks - they operate in the same way as ATM machines do, allowing users to open bank accounts, withdraw and deposit cash. The State Bank of India was among the first to experiment with this model, and Eko Financial Services was the technology service provider for the bank. Via a Right To Information filing with the State Bank of India, we've received the following information: - As on August 2011, there are 2291 Business Correspondents engaged with the State Bank of India - The Total Number of Point of Service customer service points through the Business Correspondents model with SBI are 27,889. - The total number of transactions carried out by business correspondents with SBI stood at 16391 for August 2011, out of which 337849 were deposits 5534 and 972376 were withdrawal and 7196 were remittances. - Eko India Financial Service Private Ltd processed transactions worth Rs 1422 crore for SBI customers between July 2010 and August 2011, on behalf of the BC-Eko Aspire Foundation. Data Source: State Bank Of India, via RTI And there's more: - From July 2010 to August 2011, the number of transactions have gone up by 45.09% while among the different modes of transactions, remittances have increased by 1726.39% from 394 in July 2010 to 7196 in August 2011. In contrast, the number of deposits came down by 22.36% to 337849 for August 2011. - November 2010 registered the minimum number of transactions with…
