"Money Lender-Free Village”- The Unique Pilot Project of South Indian Bank Launched

PRLog (Press Release) – Mar 05, 2008 – ‘Dr V.A.Joseph ,Chairman & CEO of South Indian Bank (SIB) launched the ‘Money Lender-Free Village” pilot project of the Bank at Meloor in Trichur District of Kerala.Quoting Dr.Muhammed Yunus,the Nobel laureate ,”poverty is a threat to peace”, Dr.Joseph said that SIB, being a responsible corporate citizen , has started this initiative as the Bank is convinced that the chances of peace can be enhanced only by poverty reduction and  inclusive growth.

The main objective of the Project is to replace the non-institutional, usurious, exploitative rural credit mechanism of private lending with lending through Self-Help Groups (SHGs)and direct lending by SIB. Under this initiative, SHGs act as extension of SIB to reach out to villages in even the remotest locations.

Dr.Joseph stated that the social objective of the bank’s founder fathers who had founded South Indian Bank in 1929 to liberate the small traders from the clutches of usurious money lenders is being again realised through this initiative. The debt profile of the house-holds in the Meloor village , the Chairman said , had indicated that the major source of credit to them particularly poor income households ,has been informal sector loans like money lenders (who charge exorbitant rates of interest ) to whom a lion’s share of the villagers’ income was being paid .So in order to save them from these private money lenders SIB is arranging affordable credit to those who are eligible .

This unique pilot project of South Indian Bank was inaugurated by Mr.S.Ramaswamy,Regional Director of Reserve Bank of India at the corporate office of the Bank last week .The scheme envisages empowerment ,of the villagers who are burdened with the usurious interest charged by private money lenders , by generation of additional income .In this pilot project Kerala Agricultural University ,which has already signed an MOU with South Indian Bank for integrated agricultural development in Trichur District , will be giving technical guidance to the villagers to set up units in ornamental fishes , dairy, landscaping , medicinal plants etc.The Village Panchayat will be arranging leased land for the landless agricultural labourers to set up units.’Organisation for Women Empowerment & Rural Development’ (OWERD), the NGO will provide  marketing support and also give advice for availing govt. subsidies . OWERD will also monitor the Bank credit disbursed to ensure that it is not diverted for unproductive uses.OWERD also will provide adequate counseling to prevent  suicide as many have committed the same and since many others are on the verge of it , afraid of the threats from the ‘blade mafia’ (money lenders ).

Mr.M.Valsan ,Executive Director of the Bank entrusting OWERD with the work of selecting the eligible persons for Bank credit on behalf of the Bank stated that this pilot project is aimed at helping the weaker sections to avail credit at affordable rates of interest from the Bank instead of going to moneylenders who charge exorbitant rates of interest.

Mr.P.P.Babu,President,Meloor Panchayat presided over the function . Mr.P.J.Ouseph , Dy.G.M. and Regional Head of SIB ,Mr.Madhu,Chairman ,OWERD ,Mr.Jose Paul ,Chief Manager ,SIB and others spoke on the occasion .Bank’s Directors –Dr.John Joseph ,G.A.Shenai,Mr.A.S.Narayana Moorthy and Mr.Paul Chalissery and General Managers –Mr.Cheryan Varkey and Mr .Alex Mathew and executives and staff members also participated in the function .

For press queries : Senior Manager,Corporate Comunications ,The South Indian Bank Ltd., ,Ph:0487-2423858 Mob:9847404555 E-mail:simonjoseph4@gmail.com