ICICI Bank is planning to set up mandi branches, kiosks, franchisees and partner microfinance institutions and non-government organisations to boost its rural finance business.
In association with corporates, microfinance institutions and local authorities, the bank is developing supply-chain solutions in the agriculture sector.
ICICI Bank has divided the rural market into R1, R2, R3 and R4 categories for identifying the rural markets. R1 and R2 represent the rich farmers, while R3 and R4 represents the poor landless labourers.
“ICICI Bank plans to increase its points of delivery five times - from 3,500 to 17,500 by March 2006,” said ICICI Bank executive director Nachiket Mor.
He said the total demand for microfinance was around Rs 45,000 crore, while the supply was just about Rs 2,000 crore.
The bank will support over 200 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in creating an asset base of Rs 2,00,000 crore and also rollout “penetration strategy” to cover 60 districts in the country.
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