ICICI Bank (1) stated that it is taking a significant step to provide hassle-free loans to farmers. It is utilizing satellite images to assess the farmer’s worth for a credit.
Bank added that it would help farmers with their existing credit to increase their eligibility. It would also get new-to-credit farmers better access for their farm loans. With the move, ICICI Bank has become the first Indian bank to use such technologies to assess farmers’ worth for farm loans. It includes measuring an array of parameters, including land, irrigation, crop patterns.
The bank will use these parameters, demographic and financial arrays to make a lending decision for farmers. The Executive Director of ICICI Bank, Anup Bagchi, said that it has always been creating new paradigms in the financial services sector. He further added that the bank takes the lead to introduce path-breaking innovations. The bank is bringing another futuristic technology by using satellite data and analysis to provide vital inputs for the assessments for lending to farmers.
Using Satellites for Lending Assessments to Cut Time and Resources Needed: ICICI Bank
Previously, the bank representatives or the customers had to visit the locations to assess the required parameters manually. It includes land location, irrigation, crop quality, and pattern to forecast the farmers’ future revenues. With satellite observations, it has become easier to track various data across large areas in a contactless and competent manner. When combined with the demographic and financial details, reliable information is extracted on the farmers’ land asset.
The bank has set a short-term target to cover over 63,000 villages in India for giving out loans with this technology. The ICICI bank has received a promising rejoinder from its pilot project covering over 500 communities. The new technology is most likely to cut the time needed to loan since the land verification is contactless.
