New Delhi: State-owned lender Bank of Baroda (BoB) is planning to build an agri-digital platform called 'Baroda Kisan' that will cater specifically to farmers. The digital platform is aimed at providing solutions for all major agricultural requirements. BoB signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with six companies, including Skymet Weather Services, Weather Risk Management Services, BigHaat, Agrostar India, EM3 Agri Services and Poorti Agri Services.
The service will be aimed at providing a holistic approach towards solving agricultural issues by providing reliable and customised information, offering the convenience of renting farm equipment, inputs for use etc
An official statement released by BoB said that the platform will be executed by IT Centre of Excellence (ITCoE) of Bank of Baroda in partnership with IBM India.
The service will be aimed at providing a holistic approach towards solving agricultural issues by providing reliable and customised information, offering the convenience of renting farm equipment, inputs for use and market linkage for sale of agri-produces, the statement said.
Commenting on the plan, BoB Managing Director and CEO PS Jayakumar said, "Digitization of agri services will have a huge impact on the Indian economy and this collaboration is an effort towards keeping up with the use of technology in the field of agriculture."
Farmers are an integral part of India, and 'Baroda Kisan' is a dedicated platform created to ease their requirements, he added.
Bank of Baroda is the convener of State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) and is Lead Bank in Gujarat, having 3 Zonal Offices, 21 Regional Offices and a wide network of about 1,800 branches in the State. The Bank has also set up 7 SME loan factories for centralized processing and speedy disposal of loan applications. The Bank has also started a specialized Start-up Branch in Ahmedabad, to cater to the funding needs of Start-Up projects To avail the credit facility through Single Window Portal, the customers can register their request on the link available on the portal. The lead generated will be submitted to Bank of Baroda for further action. The Bank also has a dedicated central processing cell in Mumbai/Gujarat to deal with the leads and shall ensure that In-principle approval/decision is conveyed on a priority basis.