#AnupBagchi

[hybiz12]

ICICI Bank has announced the usage of satellite data—imagery from Earth observation satellites—to assess the worthiness of its customers belonging to the farm sector. The Bank is the first in India and among a w globally to use satellite data to measure an array of parameters related to the land, irrigation, and crop patterns and use it in combination with demographic and financial parameters to make expeditious lending decisions for farmers. This use of innovative technology helps farmers with existing credit to enhance their eligibility, while new-to-credit farmers can now get better access to credit. Additionally, since the land verification is done in a contactless manner with the help of satellite data, credit assessments are being done within a few days as against the industry practice of up to 15 days. The Bank has been using satellite data for the past few months in over 500 villages in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat and plans to scale up the initiative to over 63,000 villages shortly across the country.