Modi dedicates 'ICICI Digital Village' to nation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the Chief Guest at the occasion where ICICI Bank announced that it created the ‘ICICI Digital Village’ at Akodara in Sabarkantha district of Gujarat to enable villagers to use technology in various aspects of life including banking, payments, education and healthcare among others.

Here, financial transactions are cashless, text books are paperless, children read books on LED monitors and Tabs, patients can avail the facility of telemedicine and wi-fi connectivity is available across the village.

Union Minister of Finance, Corporate Affairs and Information & Broadcasting Arun Jaitley, Governor of Maharashtra C. Vidyasagar Rao and Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis also graced the occasion.

Speaking at the event, Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank said: “It is a great honour for us to have the Prime Minister here with us today on this historic occasion. Technology has been a defining feature of our strategy in everything that we do. ICICI Bank revolutionised the banking experience for Indian customers by launching electronic channels on a large scale – from ATMs to internet banking. In recent years, we have rapidly scaled up mobile banking and launched automated 24/7 Touch Banking branches as well as banking on social media. We continue to roll out innovative and convenient solutions for customers in both urban and rural India, leveraging technology. We are proud to have converted Akodara in Gujarat from a village into a digital village. Our objective has been to show that technology can be used to eliminate barriers that separate rural and urban India. We hope that it will catalyse similar initiatives across the country and recreate rural India.”

The digital village initiative has three dimensions. The first dimension is to enhance access to banking and provide seamless banking services.

The second dimension of the initiative is to leverage technology in the social sectors for improvement in the lives of the villagers.

The third dimension of the strategy is to create enabling infrastructure to make technology available, and access and disseminate information.

The dedication of ICICI Digital Village to the nation marks ICICI Group’s 60 years of existence. The Group will complete 60 years on January 5, 2015.

“The last 60 years have seen many changes in India and the Indian economy. ICICI as an institution has not only mirrored these changes, but has always sought to be a catalyst for positive change that gives more strength to our country and our fellow citizens. Even as we have expanded and diversified, we have never forgotten that this institution was established to accelerate development in our country. This ethos continues to be the foundation of all our activities, added Kochhar.