Public sector lender, Syndicate Bank has started a pilot project in four villages of Anantpur district of Andhra Pradesh to promote the usage of mobile banking services by residents.

The bank has used business correspondent (BC) model to take forward this service to customers. Customers have to simply show their photograph to the BC and use a standard phrase as its voice identity. Once his voice is established on the phone, the customer can ask for any service like deposit, withdrawal and transaction.

On successful completion of the transaction , the BC gets a confirmation message and a receipt is printed out by the BC.

Ever since the project has been launched, the bank has been able to open 9,800 accounts with deposits of over Rs 5 lakh in the villages, said Mr Devananda Upadhyaya, General Manager - Financial Inclusion, Marketing and Insurance, Syndicate Bank.

The bank has plans to include 117 more villages under this platform.

It has set a target of covering 750 villages by the end of this fiscal either by way of branches or through BCs.