Vondaraguppe of Chennapatna has become cashless village

Ramnagar: A small non-descript village on the Bengaluru-Mysuru National Highway had no hopes of ever making it big. With largely literate population, the village was still no different from any other backward village of the state.

Banks were meant only for the rich and debit cards, ATM cards and the likes were all unheard of. But, to everyone's astonishment, this is the very same village which now dons the feather of being a 'cashless village' on its cap.Unbelievable yet true, Vondaraguppe in Chennapatna taluk of Ramnagar has been transformed into a cashless village, reflecting the digital penetration in our country.

In 2017, about 70 per cent of the population of the village, which has 250 families were all literate. With agriculture and dairy farming being the main occupations of the people here, today over 95 per cent of the business transactions are digital.The villagers say that Bank of Baroda branch in the village should walk away with the credit for this unimaginable feat.

After the Nov 8 demonetisation move, Bank of Baroda chose Vandaraguppe in the district to introduce digital banking project. Within a few months, the village became a cashless village after a slew of changes were introduced by the bank, which now has 1983 accounts and 1900 account holders have debit cards. These accounts have been linked to Aadhaar and the villagers are carrying on with their business swiftly.

The Bank has appointed two business representatives here who go door to door with mini ATMs to help the villagers complete their transactions. Payments and deposits are made by them on the spot. Two persons in the village have swiping machines as well, to run their business. Four more businessmen are awaiting their own swiping machines. A good number of villagers are utilising the benefits of mobile banking as well.