• Abhijit Nath, NET Correspondent, Tripura

Tripura government on Tuesday hiked the remuneration of Bank ‘Sathi’ (Partners) across the state.

Speaking with reporters at Civil Secretariat in Agartala city, the Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma, also the minister-in-charge of Finance department asserted that remuneration of the bank ‘Sathi’ (Partners) have been hiked to make them financially self-sufficient, thereby boosting their work culture.

With the increase in the rate of remuneration by the state government, the bank ‘Sathi’ (Partners) can now earn from Rs 6,500 to Rs 7,000 whereas, earlier their income stood from Rs 4000 to 4,500 per month.

Dev Varma said the state government’s Tripura Rural Mission would spend an additional Rs 3.15 crore a year to pay the increased rates to bank partners.

Despite the financial constraints during the COVID-19 pandemic, the state government has also taken steps to increase income for bank ‘Sathi’ (Partners), stated Dev.

The decision undertaken will benefit 305 people currently working as bank partners.
The state government will continue its efforts to increase the income of bank partners in the future as well.

Deputy Chief Minister noted that functions of Bank ‘Sathi’ (Partners) is like a support system of Gramin Self Help Groups (SHGs) under the Tripura Rural Livelihood Mission, who coordinates between various branches of Gramin, SHGs, thereby managing their daily activities. He also stressed upon various issues related to the bank.

Citing an instance, Dev Varma said that bank ‘Sathi’ (Partners) play a special role in opening bank accounts, preparing loan approvals, preparing insurance applications, and providing financial literacy to women in self-help groups.