Private lender HDFC Bank and Common Services Centers (CSCs) today jointly announced the launch of chatbot ‘Eva’ on CSC’s Digital Seva Portal to support Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) in providing banking services for last-mile rural consumers.
Via Eva, VLEs will get the help in learning about the products and services offered by HDFC Bank, which in turn will be improving services offered to the last mile customers.
The service will be available 24×7. It will allow the VLEs in accessing accurate information pertaining to various products, processes and resolve queries about HDFC Bank’s services. VLEs would also be to improve their business by learning about account opening, loan lead generation, and product details.
As of now, 1, 27, 348 VLEs are offering HDFC Bank’s products and services in semi-urban and rural India. Of these 15,791 are Business Correspondents who serve customers via banking outlets across 685 districts pan India.
Smita Bhagat, Group Head – Government and Institutional Business (GIB) and Start-ups at HDFC Bank said, “This is initiative will bridge the gap between India and Bharat. Urban India has been quick to learn and adapt to the world of digital but it is yet to benefit Bharat. We are trying to bring about a change by empowering VLEs to learn more banking services and improve their business by helping others. This initiative will take the bank’s commitment to providing banking services into semi-urban, rural and remote areas.”
Anjani Rathor, Chief Digital Officer of HDFC Bank said, “Our objective, as always, is to strive for the best service we can provide to our customers. Powered by artificial intelligence and predictive analytics, Eva will vastly reduce the time taken to get an answer. It will help them navigate through our range of services, products, FAQs which will provide a transformative banking experience to VLEs and their customers.”
Dinesh Tyagi, CEO at CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, said – “The initiative to leverage chatbots and digital innovations to empower VLEs is a step in the right direction. This will mitigate the asymmetrical access between urban and rural India to digital banking services. The reduced time between exploring a financial product and availing its benefits will improve rural lives.”
