The largest lender of the country, State Bank of India and Indian Postal Department have joined hands in carrying forward the idea of taking banking to rural areas. As a result of the tie up, postmen will act as business correspondents (BCs) for SBI acting across 12000 villages.

Villagers in these areas have no experience in banking so far. BCs will act to offer small credit as well as remittance facilities to the villagers.

"To meet this intiative a tie-up with India Post will be a great advantage," a senior SBI official said. SBI aims to reach out to 12,492 villages by 2012.

Indian postal department has a network of more than 1.5 lakh branches. The extensive reach of the postal department was compelling the government since long to enter into tie ups of similar kind, said an official of the finance ministry.

"We have encouraged banks to explore similar tie-ups to speed up the financial inclusion agenda," he said.

A senior postal department official said, "India Post, or its employees, are undoubtedly the most reliable partners for any bank."