HUBBALLI: "I am now quite relaxed as I can transfer money, pay my utility bills and shop online sitting at home. Thanks to the mobile banking facility provided by Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank ," said Melagirappa Kodli, a farmer of Sherewad.Like Kodli, many farmers and people in this village are now opting for mobile banking and using ATM and debit cards for making various payments. It was all possible due to the initiative taken by the Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank (KVGB), which declared Sherewad village as its first digital village in Dharwad district. Earlier, the villagers had to stand in long queues before the KVGB at Noovli village, 2km from Sherewad by skipping their routine works to get money. This is now a thing of past.Manjulla Matti, business correspondent of KVGB, Sherewad, said the village has a population of 4,415 of which 4,003 are covered with bank accounts. As many as 3,916 accounts were seeded with Aadhaar numbers and 3,964 accounts were linked with cellphone numbers. The bank has issued 3,803 RuPay cards and 25 Kissan cards. The bank will provide technology-enabled banking services to the villagers including statements, alerts, remittances and fund transfers on the mobile phone, Aadhaar-based payments, e-passbook, micro ATM services etc.The bank is creating a cashless and digital payment ecosystem for the village. Mobile ATM will visit the village on a regular basis. The bank has planned to provide POS to the selected shops shortly."We have already trained several youths about cashless transaction and they are now teaching villagers on the same. We will also explain to the villagers on e-payments and the advantages of new apps and net-banking post demonetization by making door-to-door visits, she added.Sheela Hiregouder, working in a cooperative bank, said: "I have transferred some amount to my father's account for emergency requirement by sitting at my working place in Hubballi by using mobile banking facility.""We are happy that our village has all the digital facilities ranging from micro ATM to mobile banking. We can now make online payments from home. We can also make cashless payment for buying grocery and other items, said Holiyappa Kuri, president of gram panchayat.S Ravindran, chairman, KVGB, said the bank has a target to make nine villages embrace cashless transactions in the first phase. "We are proud to have converted Sherewad into a digital village.The bank has plans to train all the account holders in the village about digitization of the banking sector to provide cashless banking services to every villager.

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