The BC Sakhi Yojana of the Uttar Pradesh government is bringing a big change in the rural areas of the state. Under this scheme, so far 50,192 women have been trained as banking correspondents in UP. Out of these, 39,561 BC Sakhis are actively working and have done transactions worth ₹31,626 crore so far. Due to this, they have received a dividend of ₹85.81 crore. According to a statement, the scheme launched under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath aims to make women self-reliant and provide banking services to the villagers near their homes.
How the picture of villages is changing
BC Sakhi Yojana is an ambitious initiative of the Uttar Pradesh government, which was launched by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in May 2020. In BC Sakhi Yojana, BC means ‘Banking Correspondent’ and Sakhi means friend or female assistant. The main goal of this scheme is to make women self-reliant by connecting them to banking services at the rural level and to provide digital banking services in rural areas. This scheme not only provides employment opportunities to women but also makes access to banking services in villages easier.
How do villagers benefit
BC Sakhi provides banking services to people in the village in a digital way, which includes:
Depositing/withdrawing money
Providing information about the bank account
Telling about bank-related schemes
Delivering the money from government schemes to the right beneficiary
BC Sakhi Yojana has reduced the distance and cost of banks in villages, as well as women have got respectable employment. This scheme is proving to be a strong step towards self-reliant Uttar Pradesh. Now villagers do not have to travel long distances and spend money to go to the bank, as BC Sakhi provides all the necessary banking services near their home.
How much honorarium and incentive is available in BC Sakhi Yojana
Women appointed under the BC Sakhi scheme are given an honorarium of ₹4,000 per month for the first 6 months. Apart from this, they are also given a one-time assistance of ₹50,000 to buy banking equipment. This financial assistance helps women to start their work and run it smoothly.
Additional commission is also given on banking transactions, which usually ranges from 0.20% to 0.32% of the transaction amount. The more the transaction, the higher the commission, which increases the income of BC Sakhi.
Bank customers are getting the most benefit from this scheme of the state government. The government is especially giving a big gift of banking services to the people of the village. The villagers who earlier had to spend money to withdraw and deposit money from the bank are now saving that too. With this policy of the state government, women at the rural level are becoming self-reliant and supporting their families financially.