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HDFC Bank and Common Services Centers (CSCs) on Monday announced the launch of chatbot 'Eva' on CSC's Digital Seva Portal to support Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) in providing banking services for the last mile rural consumers.

Through Eva, VLEs will learn about the products and services offered by HDFC Bank, which in turn will improve services offered to the last mile customers.

The 24x7 service will allow VLEs to access accurate information about various products, processes and resolve queries about HDFC Bank's services. VLEs would be able to improve their business by learning about account opening, loan lead generation and product details, the bank said in a statement.

Through Eva, VLEs will also be able to access training content to become a Business Correspondent (BC) by taking a quiz before getting the certification, as per the regulatory process.

Currently, 1,27,348 VLEs are providing HDFC Bank's products and services in semi-urban and rural India. Of these 15,791 are Business Correspondents who serve customers through banking outlets across 685 districts pan India. These Business Correspondents help citizens avail home loans, car loans, two-wheeler loans, tractor loans, open current and savings accounts and save through recurring and fixed deposits.

Speaking on the launch, Smita Bhagat, Group Head - Government and Institutional Business (GIB) and Start-ups at HDFC Bank said, "This initiative will bridge the gap between India and Bharat. Urban India has been quick to learn and adapt to the world of digital but it is yet to benefit Bharat. We are trying to bring about a change by empowering VLEs to learn more banking services and improve their business by helping others."

Anjani Rathor, Chief Digital Officer of HDFC Bank said, "Powered by artificial intelligence and predictive analytics, Eva will vastly reduce the time taken to get an answer. It will help them navigate through our range of services, products, FAQs which will provide a transformative banking experience to VLEs and their customers."

About Common Services Centers

Common Services Centers (CSCs) Scheme is one of the key enablers of the Digital India program. CSCs are the access points for e-delivery of G2C, education, healthcare, agriculture and financial services.