26-Aug-2020: ICICI to use satellites for farm credit

ICICI Bank has announced the introduction of usage of satellite data-imagery from earth observation satellites to assess the creditworthiness of its customers belonging to the farm sector.

The bank is the first in India and among a few globally to do so. It will use the data to measure an array of parameters related to the land, irrigation and crop patterns. The data would be used in combination with demographic and financial parameters to make faster lending decisions for farmers.

Since land verification is done in a contactless manner, credit assessments take only a few days as against the industry practice of up to 15 days. Use of technology helps farmers with existing credit to enhance their eligibility. New-to-credit farmers can get better access to credit.

An Earth observation satellite or a remote sensing satellite is a satellite used or designed for Earth observation (EO) from orbit. They are intended for uses such as environmental monitoring, meteorology, map making and others. Starting with IRS-1A in 1988, ISRO has launched many operational remote sensing satellites. Currently, 13 operational satellites are in Sun-synchronous orbit and 4 in Geostationary orbit. The data from these satellites are used for several applications covering agriculture, water resources, urban planning, rural development, mineral prospecting, environment, forestry, ocean resources and disaster management.