Focus: GS III: Indian Economy
Why in News?
Recently, the Prime Minister of India has dedicated 75 Digital Banking Units (DBU) across 75 districts to the nation.
About Digital Banking Units
- A digital banking unit is a specialized fixed point business unit or hub, housing a certain minimum digital infrastructure for delivering digital banking products and services.
- It aims at servicing existing financial products and services digitally in self-service mode at any time.
- The RBI has announced the guidelines for DBUs, following the report of a working group of the Indian Banks Association (IBA).
- Services: Opening of savings account, balance-check, print passbook, transfer of funds, investment in fixed deposits, loan applications, stop-payment instructions for cheques issued, application for credit / debit cards, view statement of account, pay taxes, pay bills, make nominations, etc.
- The DBUs will also facilitate onboarding to Government credit link schemes through the Jan Samarth portal and end-to-end digital processing of small ticket MSME/retail loans.
Benefits:
- The DBUs will enable those who do not have Information and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure to access banking services digitally.
- They will also assist those who are not tech savvy to adopt digital banking.
