"Vernacular" drive for financial inclusion

Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF) has brought out the first vernacular edition (in Malayalam)of the book, 'Inclusive growth through business correspondent', a courseware for certification as a business facilitator/correspondent(BC/BF). The book was released by the Managing Director of State Bank of Travancore at Thiruvananthapuram. While making a presentation, Mr. R.Bhaskaran,CEO,IIBF said that candidates aspiring to be business facilitator/ business correspondents have to possess skill-sets necessary to making them effective and efficient in their assigned role. It is expected that he/she be equipped with adequate knowledge of banking and banking operations, bank-specific rules, norms and procedures related to acceptance of deposits and lending to the public. In addition, they should possess the skills for communication, interviewing, marketing and cross-selling. These are essential and necessary to enhance their effectiveness in information-gathering and customer profiling.
Keeping the above objectives in mind, the IIBF designed a certificate course for this newly emerging cadre of financial intermediaries. The objective is to expose the individual BF/BCs to current developments in the field and upgrade skill-sets to enable them to relate better with the rural people.(BL 10.11.2010)