Nagaland: Sitharaman inaugurates Mon’s first private bank branch

EM Bureau
Kohima, Aug. 23 (EMN): Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman dedicated the first private bank — Axis bank branch — at Mon on Tuesday morning. 

She also inaugurated Axis Bank branches of Demow, Sibasagar, Assam, Gohpur, Biswanath, Assam, and Madanrting, East Khasi Hills, Meghalaya.

Sitharaman, in her address, stated that it was her third visit to the district and narrated about her visit to Longwa during her tenure as the Defence Minister “which had left a deep impression in her”, an update from DIPR stated.

 After a brief interaction, Sitharaman stated that she was “impressed” by the way they organised themselves and acknowledged that the people living in the international borders faced severe challenges.

She stressed on the importance of financial inclusion, adding that such inclusion provides people access to credit without much security. This, she said, is crucial for most people in the bottom layer of the economy who often fall prey to middlemen who charge exorbitant interest rates.

She also stressed on the importance of connectivity, both physical and digital, to ensure access to facilities and security.

Sitharaman thanked and appreciated Axis Bank and its management for reaching out so far to provide space for financial inclusion and access to all kinds of facilities.

She also expressed appreciation to the Axis Bank management teams in Assam and Meghalaya which are simultaneously being inaugurated along with Mon Branch and conveyed the same message to the people there.

The Union minister also appealed to the people to avail the facilities to the fullest and become productive units of the society as job creators.

Office of the Union Finance minister later tweeted that the newly inaugurated branch will cater to a population of around 26,000 directly and is expected to have an extended catchment area of 2.5 lakh population.

The branch will also provide the people of Mon with state-of-the-art service like online banking services, digital products, retail loans, and improved business opportunities.

MD and CEO, Axis Bank, Amitabh Choudhary thanked the Finance Minister for personally coming to dedicate the four branches in the Northeast.

He stated that the flow of investments in the Northeast was just the beginning and asserted that the desire of the Bank is to expand even further and provide banking facilities in all parts of the region.

MP Rajya Sabha S Phangnon Konyak, Secretary of Department of Financial Services Sanjay Malhotra, and senior officials of the state government accompanied the minister to Mon.