Akodara – Digital Village Qorus Banking Innovation Awards 2015 - Winner

The Government of India, through its ‘Digital India’ initiative, is focusing on leveraging the power of technology in many of its endeavours to improve governance, delivery of services to citizens and ease of doing business. In the spirit of our commitment to leverage technology for improving the lives of people and the Government’s ‘Digital India’ vision, we undertook a ‘Digital Village’ initiative in Akodara village in Gujarat. This initiative is centred around 3Cs - a Cashless payment ecosystem; a Comprehensive approach spanning education & skill development; and making the village Connected through Wi-Fi. As an outcome of this project, every adult in Akodara now has a bank account, can undertake cashless transactions in these accounts, has a much improved school infrastructure, a skill enhancement training options, a revamped healthcare centre and improved roads & connectivity. Cashless transactions now contribute nearly 60% of the total transactions carried out in the village. The Village Level Cooperative Society (VLCS), which acts as a milk collection centre, has moved completely to a cashless payment mode for milk payments. A school management software and digitized attendance system have been installed in all 3 schools. These schools have started using smart boards in classrooms and other relevant equipments. Students are being trained at skill development centre. The Bank has conducted 2 health camps at e-Health facility setup at Akodara. Key commodity prices from nearby markets are displayed on a digital screen setup at the Bank’s branch. A dedicated website for Akodara (http://akodara-digitalvillage.in) is live.