Lockdown: Business correspondent reaches doorstep of customers to help them withdraw money

Sumi Khatun, a ‘business correspondent‘ of State Bank of India moves around several villages in West Bengal‘s Birbhum district to help people make modest withdrawal or deposit money during the COVID-19 induced lockdown. Sumi, who has been given permission by the administration to cover around 50-km of distance in the district having a large number of farmers, day labourers travels in an e-rickshaw criss-crossing Lohapur-Nalhati-areas.

On being chosen as the business correspondent in the first week of April, to help the small savings holders in their hour of need and getting permission for outsourcing, Sumi saw how the elderly and infirm had to wait for hours at her kiosk in the scorching heat and decided to herself reach out to them at their households. “That is allowed by our bank and after having word with our bank manager, I decided to reach the doorsteps of our customers on my own,” she told reporters on Sunday. The 30-year old carries a laptop, fingerprint scanner and around Rs 50,000 in cash during her travel and is never scared of her security “as I know I am within my family.”

Shamima Begum, a 65-year old woman who works as a maid in a house said, “she has turned out to be another daughter of mine. When I was desperately in need of Rs 1,000 but could not go all the way to the SBI branch due to physical hurdles, I was contacted by Sumi who promised to visit my dwelling. And she came on Saturday.” Shamima was among the 70 villagers who were benefitted by Sumi’s service so far, more noteworthy since 100-day projects have come to nought due to lockdown causing serious hardships to the villagers, a sizeable number of them Muslims, in the month of Ramzan.