Our Correspondent
KOHIMA, FEBRUARY 26
With a commitment to the economic uplift of the society in the north east region, Allahabad Bank, one of the oldest joint stock banks of the country has opened its sixth branch in the state in Kohima town. The new branch was opened on Friday. The bank is housed in the Central Building, at Keziekie Colony, below the North Police Station.
Inaugurating the newly-opened bank, MK Mero, Commissioner and Secretary for Veterinary and Animal Husbandry congratulated the bank which is located at an ideal and centre point, he said the people of the Kohima and the business community will be benefitted a lot.
At the same time, Mero also pointed out that though Kohima is known as an urban area, there still are 33 blocks which are unbanked, and people in those are facing lots of problems. Therefore, he urged the banking sector to move out from their comfort zones and start shifting to rural areas, so that even the rural poor can have access to banking facilities and avail any national flagship schemes and programmes.
Citing lack of financial literacy among the people, he also asked the financial institutions to educate and apprise its potential customers on all its policies and schemes, so that the people can get the maximum benefit.
PK Satapathy, zonal head for Dibrugarh has expressed pride over the successful opening of its new branch, which he said, materialised after one and half year. Stating that banking industry is one of the most important parameters towards the social and economic development of a society, he assured the bank will continue to strive to render the best services to the people of Kohima.
Also speaking at the programme, PK Mahapatra, Assistant General Manager of the Dimapur branch said that the Allahabad Bank was one of the leading public sector banks; it has more than 3300 braches spread over every nook and corner of the country. The total business of the Allahabad Bank in the state has crossed over Rs 580 Crore as on December 31, 2015, and with the opening in Kohima, it branches has increased to 40 under Dirbugarh zone which covers entire Upper Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.
Imnawati will take over charge as the manager of the Kohima branch. The bank is offering various benefits under financial inclusion plan of Government of India such as insurance coverage under PMSBY, PMJJBY and also pension scheme under APY for the people.