Asian Development Bank (ADB)
1-May-2023: Union Finance Minister leads Indian delegation to attend the 56th Annual General Meeting of Board of Directors of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Republic of Korea from May 2-5, 2023
Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman will lead the Indian delegation to attend the 56th Annual General Meeting of the Board of Governors of Asian Development Bank (ADB) along with Investor/ Bilateral and other associated meetings, in Incheon, the Republic of Korea, from May 2-5, 2023. The Indian delegation, comprising of officials from the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. Government of India, is scheduled to depart later today.
The Meetings will be attended by official delegations of ADB members, observers, non-governmental and civil society organisations, media, financial institutions and banks and other private sector companies.
The engagements of Union Finance Minister will consist of the following components:
- Interaction with Global Economists, Governors / Finance Ministers of the ADB member countries etc.
- Bilateral engagements with countries and international organisations.
- Interaction with global business leaders and investors in roundtables.
- Engagement with Community Diaspora.
Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana(PMMY)
8-Apr-2023: More than 40.82 crore loans amounting to ₹23.2 lakh crore sanctioned under Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) since inception
The Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) was launched on 8th April 2015 by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi with the aim to facilitate easy collateral-free micro credit of up to ₹10 lakh to non-corporate, non-farm small and micro entrepreneurs for income generating activities. The loans under PMMY are provided by Member Lending Institutions (MLIs), i.e., Banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) and other financial intermediaries.
Upon marking successful 8th anniversary of the PMMY, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman said, “Brought under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the scheme has enabled easy and hassle-free access to credit to micro-enterprises and has helped a large number of young entrepreneurs establish their businesses."
In reference to the PMMY data, Smt. Sitharaman said, “Since the launch of the scheme, as of 24.03.2023, about ₹23.2 lakh crore has been sanctioned in 40.82 crore loan accounts. About 68% of accounts under the scheme belong to women entrepreneurs and 51% of accounts belong to entrepreneurs of SC/ST and OBC categories. This demonstrates that easy availability of credit to the budding entrepreneurs of the country has led to innovation and sustained increase in per capita income.”
India Post Payment Bank (IPPB)
31-Mar-2023: India Post Payments Bank launches WhatsApp Banking Services
India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), in collaboration with Airtel, announced the launch of WhatsApp Banking Services for IPPB customers in New Delhi today, enabling them to access banking services on their mobile phone.
The newly launched IPPB WhatsApp Banking channel will enable IPPB customers to seamlessly connect with the bank on WhatsApp and effortlessly avail a host of banking services, including doorstep service request, locating nearest Post Office and much more. In line with the ambition of the Government to bring digital and financial inclusion to citizens in their language, the Airtel – IPPB WhatsApp Banking solution is also working on to build multi-language support, enabling added convenience to customers, especially to those in the rural parts of the country to access banking services in their preferred language.
Airtel has been working with IPPB to deliver as many as 250 million messages per month to the bank’s customers many of whom are located in mofussil towns and tier 2,3 cities. The addition of the WhatsApp messaging will add to customer’s accessibility to connect with the bank on their fingertips, furthering Digital India mission of the Government, as part of which IPPB has been working tirelessly to deliver banking services in the rural pockets of the country.
Shri Gursharan Rai Bansal, CGM & CSMO – India Post Payments Bank said, “We are delighted to work with Bharti Airtel as our partner in driving digital and financial inclusion in India. We believe that financial services driven by technology have great potential and can go a long way in ensuring that the best financial products reach the farthest corners of the country.”
Shri Abhishek Biswal, Business Head - Airtel IQ said, “Airtel IQ is a robust, intuitive and secure cloud communication suite. With the addition of WhatsApp messaging to the existing SMS and voice communication that we offer to India Post Payments Bank customers, we will further enable a two-way communication between the bank and their customers. We are delighted to continue our association with IPPB to contribute significantly in making banking services more accessible to tier2,3 cities in the country. We promise to continue delivering customer centric solutions that offer greater convenience to customers.”
The IPPB and Airtel IQ are working towards further integrating a LIVE interactive customer support agent into the WhatsApp solution which will enable customers to access 24X7 support and get quick resolutions for their queries.