Demonetisation has brought a huge chaos in the country, but the village of Akodara has been functioning quite normally. As no one in this village, nor the shops neither the citizens use money in cash.
Situated 90 kilometres from Ahmedabad located in Gujarat’s Sabarkantha district this is the first ever ‘Digital Village’ of India. Citizens of this village use e-banking for everything, From buying fruits and vegetables to drawing salaries and paying their bills, all monetary transactions which are above Rs10 are done through the internet. Everyone here uses mobile phones for their payments. This has enabled the citizens of Akodara to remain calm amidst the chaos of demonetisation in the country.
The ICICI bank on its 60th anniversary adopted this village of 1200 citizens to demonstrate the power of digitalisation and how it can make our lives easier. The ICICI bank collaborated with the local administration of the village and helped every villager to be able to access the modern banking facility. Every villager has their phones linked to their bank accounts and they can easily use the facility of online banking by using the village Wi-Fi.
The aim to create a digital village was to show how the country can benefit in terms of motivating the people towards the habit of depositing money in banks which ultimately leads to more cash flow in the economy. The concept of digital village I based on three Cs-
· 1. Cashless
· 2. Connected
· 3. Comprehensive
The Prime Minister 100% supports this initiative and said that this idea of going digital will be a role model for the rest of the country.
