In a first of its kind initiative, the lead bankers along with Andhra Pradesh government and NABARD have together established a state-level institute for rural and entrepreneurship development at Hyderabad.
Christened as Andhra Pradesh Bankers Institute of Rural and Entrepreneurship Development, (APBIRD), the initiative is being sponsored by Andhra Bank, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, Indian Overseas Bank and State Bank of Hyderabad apart from the AP government and NABARD.
At present, the institute is located at the premises of Andhra Pradesh Academy of Rural Development (APARD) at Rajendranagar. While inaugurating the institute, Chief Minister Rajasekhara Reddy has promised to extend the land required for the institute and asked the bankers to identify land within the campus of APARD.
The institute is expected to impart training in soft skills to the rural people enabling them to undertake more self-employment projects. The institute will give training at no cost to trainees, they also will be paid conveyance, boarding and dormitory facilities.
Speaking on the occasion, the Andhra Bank chairman and managing director K Ramakrishnan said that the institute will also provide escort services to its trainees including, post training assistance for settlement, organizing service camps for market exposure, product exhibitions and other promotional activities. The institute will also provide opportunities for business tie-ups to sell the farm produce.
Interestingly, the lead banks in the state have already established rural development training institutes in various parts of the state aiming to impart need based training to mitigate the problem of unemployment in rural areas. These institutes will also undertake training programmes for women in the capacity building, improving technical knowledge etc. Andhra Bank, Canara Bank, State Bank of Hyderabad and Syndicate Bank have individually established 16 such institutes in their lead districts. These banks are now looking to establish district level rural development institutes at Ranga Reddy for Telengana, Tirupati for Rayalaseema districts, Ramakrishnan said.
