Vakrangee partners with UBI to make banking services accessible to rural India

The Central government has made financial inclusion its key priority, with a vision to have universal access to banking facilities for every household, financial literacy, access to credit, insurance and pension.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the financial inclusion initiative of the government, more than 37.6 crore bank accounts have been opened and more than Rs 1 lakh crore of balance has been generated in these bank accounts. These Jan Dhan accounts have benefits such as no minimum balance required, RuPay card which includes accidental insurance of Rs 2 lakh, direct transfer of subsidies, easy transfer of money and overdraft facility upto Rs 10,000.

The RBI has also recognised the key role that business correspondents (BC) and agents play in extending the reach of the banking system to the common man. These permanent BC point outlets are considered as banking outlets and RBI has further ensured to have a healthy Cash In Cash Out (CICO) network such that all users have access to multiple ATMs/BCs within a 3-km radius for cash management needs.


Vakrangee has recently partnered with Union Bank of India for 20,000 banking BC points for Nextgen Vakrangee Kendra. The bank will allot in a batch of 2,500 BC points, whereby 70-80 per cent of BC points would be in tier-5 and tier-6 locations and which would include five per cent of the outlets to be opened in aspirational districts and LWE (Left Wing Extremism) areas.

One-stop shop — standardised and exclusive offering
The assisted digital convenience store, Nextgen Vakrangee Kendra is a standardised format outlet exclusively offering a comprehensive range of products and services across banking, insurance, ATM, assisted e-commerce, e-governance and logistics. Thus acting as a one-stop shop for its consumer needs.


Vakrangee has also been appointed as the corporate business correspondent for major PSU banks. Nextgen Vakrangee Kendra outlets offer disruptive technologies like biometric-enabled paperless banking, e-KYC, interoperability and realtime banking transactions.

These kendras are aligned with the government’s vision of financial and social inclusion by reaching out to the deepest parts of the country where banking services are not available. It provides social security schemes such as Atal Pension Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana.

Last-mile reach
Vakrangee currently has 21,000+ (8,500 operational and 12,500+ under onboarding process) that are spread across 29 states and UTs, 500+ districts and 5,800+ postal codes. More than 70 per cent of these outlets are in tier-5 and tier-6 towns.

Further, Vakrangee has opened 1,040 kendras in 164 tribal areas and 487 Nextgen kendras in 90 LWE districts. The company has expanded and set up full-fledged field teams for additional states such as Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Jammu and Kashmir and North East states. Vakrangee is focussed on creating a sustainable network of lastmile retail outlets covering each and every postal code of the country.

Vakrangee’s planned target is to reach at least 25,000 Kendras by FY 2019-20 and further enhance it to reach 3,00,000 Nextgen outlets by FY 2024-25.

Leading the way
Vakrangee has evolved into a unique technology driven platform whereby it has leveraged its physical distribution network along with disruptive technology to deliver real time products and services. Over the next few years, it aims to play a bigger role in achieving the financial, social and digital inclusion vision of the RBI as well as the government.