Axis Bank on Thursday announced its partnership with ITC Limited to offer the bank’s lending products and services to farmers who are a part of ITC’s agriculture eco-system.
The deal will enable Axis Bank to cater to the financial requirements of the unserved and under-served farmers based in the remote regions of the country.
“The Bank will offer a wide range of assets and liability products such as farmer loans, gold loans etc,” the company stated in a press release.
Axis Bank will leverage ITCMAARS (Meta Market for Advanced Agricultural Rural Services), a full-stack Agri-tech application for reaching out to the farmers and addressing their financial requirements.
In addition, the bank will also provide the farmers with an extensive range of products and services through its rural-urban and semi-urban (RUSU) branches located across 656 districts of India.
The bank also aims to further scale up its Bharat Banking strategy by increasing the new-to-bank accounts in FY22-23.
As on December 31st, 2022, its rural advances grew by 27% YOY, disbursement increased by 12% YOY and deposit grew by 16% YOY.
“This partnership is in alignment with our Bank’s Bharat Banking mission of extending our reach in the remote regions and providing them with seamless customer experience. With the help of ITCMAARS strong and enduring relationship with over millions of farmers, we believe that we can make a significant contribution in uplifting financial situation of the community thereby unlocking the true potential of Bharat,” said Munish Sharda, Group Executive & Head – Bharat Banking, Axis Bank.
