State Bank of India (SBI), the country's largest lender is planning to start a new service for the visually handicapped persons, as part of its responsibility to better service society
The new service named Self Service Banking Centre (SSBC) will become operational shortly. The Centre of this service has been set up at the Delhi Head office of SBI at Parliament Street. The Centre has handicapped friendly design with a ramp for wheelchairs.
For visually handicapped, the ATM has a dedicated Braille keypad facility.
Basically, SSBC is a staff less banking group offering multiple banking facilities, namely ATMs, Internet banking and mobile banking.
Senior Bank officials told, “Roll out of the SSBCs is aimed at increasing customer convenience and improving access to financial services.”
Recently SBI Chairman OP Bhatt inaugurated the Centre soon it will be opened for public.
India is possible a unique to country to have an extensive and elaborated program of financial inclusion. Currently it has tied-up with state-run Banks to provide 40 per cent of their lending to customers from the priority sector, including agriculture, artisans, small and medium enterprises and scheduled castes and tribes.
Most of the government owned banks are giving loans to students for pursuing studies, which is growing rapidly.
The public sector banks are also in the process of covering the unbanked sectors of the economy in the urban and rural areas where up till now banking has not reached. In these areas large segment of society remains under the clutches of money lenders, who charge exorbitant rate of interest.
The state-owned banks are also taking new measures to reach out to the less privileged groups and those having problems by virtue of a chance of birth or that developed later on in life. They need compassion and help.
The private sector banks who are earning profit are also reluctant to start such services the Banks like HSBC has already started offering financial inclusion services.
In countries like South Africa, the banking services are highly expensive for common customers. For instance, on not maintaining minimum balance in the account the banks charge for this, there is charge for account statement also.
In spite of a nationwide program of Black empowerment, the black population of South Africa is still poor and finding difficulty in using financial services, including banking and insurance.
According to experts India is being looked as a role model by many countries for other developing countries to follow especially for financial services. India banking sector was not much affected by the global meltdown while the banking sector in the West faced very bad financial crisis. The Indian banking sector financial services include elaborate program of financial inclusion and now special facilities for certain sections like women and small enterprises and the latest special services for visually handicapped persons by the biggest bank of the country.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Public sector banks fix base rate at 8.25%, higher than SBI
Most of the public sector banks were looking at country’s largest lender the State Bank of India for setting their base rates. Now most of them have fixed their minimum base rate in the range of 7.75 per cent to 8.25 per cent, higher than that of market leader SBI.
From July 1, the new rate system has replaced the Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) that varies between 11-13.75%. The new lending rate system has been introduced to bring about more transparency in the lending operations of banks.
Bank of Baroda, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, Indian Bank and IDBI Bank have set their rate at 8 per cent. Syndicate Bank, Dena Bank and Indian Overseas Bank have fixed it at 8.25 per cent.
Among the private sector banks Dhanalakshmi Bank and DBS Bank India have fixed the rate at 7 per cent, lower than that of SBI, while Karur Vysya Bank’s- Kerala based private sector lender has fixed the rate at 8.5%.
Mangalore based Corporation Bank, State Bank of Mysore and Federal Bank has fixed the rate at 7.75 per cent. UCO bank has fixed its rate at 8 per cent.
Under this new system banks will charge interest rates over the base rate depending on borrower’s credit profile. RBI has clarified that the new system will not be applicable to concessional loans such as agriculture, export and other specified sectors.
The base rate system will be applicable for all new loans as well as existing loans that come up for renewal. Existing loans based on the BPLR system might continue till maturity of the existing contract and will be renewed on the basis of new system.
The existing borrowers have been given the option to switch over to the base rate system before the renewal or expiry of the existing contract without any charges.
From July 1, the new rate system has replaced the Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR) that varies between 11-13.75%. The new lending rate system has been introduced to bring about more transparency in the lending operations of banks.
Bank of Baroda, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Allahabad Bank, Bank of India, Indian Bank and IDBI Bank have set their rate at 8 per cent. Syndicate Bank, Dena Bank and Indian Overseas Bank have fixed it at 8.25 per cent.
Among the private sector banks Dhanalakshmi Bank and DBS Bank India have fixed the rate at 7 per cent, lower than that of SBI, while Karur Vysya Bank’s- Kerala based private sector lender has fixed the rate at 8.5%.
Mangalore based Corporation Bank, State Bank of Mysore and Federal Bank has fixed the rate at 7.75 per cent. UCO bank has fixed its rate at 8 per cent.
Under this new system banks will charge interest rates over the base rate depending on borrower’s credit profile. RBI has clarified that the new system will not be applicable to concessional loans such as agriculture, export and other specified sectors.
The base rate system will be applicable for all new loans as well as existing loans that come up for renewal. Existing loans based on the BPLR system might continue till maturity of the existing contract and will be renewed on the basis of new system.
The existing borrowers have been given the option to switch over to the base rate system before the renewal or expiry of the existing contract without any charges.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
SBI overseas branch network increased by 50%
The country’s largest public sector lender State Bank of India (SBI) has opened more overseas branches and its branch network has increased by almost 50%, even after the global financial crisis, informed a top official. SBI chairman OP Bhatt in its 55th Annual General Meeting said, “As we have spread our overseas branches across 32 countries in the world, we have increased our foreign office branches from 92 as on March 31, 2009 to 142 as on March 31, 2010.”
During the fiscal, bank opened six new overseas offices at Clementi, Marine Parade and Toa Payoh in Singapore, Kowloon in Hong Kong, Harrow in the UK and Lenasia in South Africa, and one branch by the bank’s wholly owned USA subsidiary, SBI (California ) Ltd, at Washington DC. Moreover bank opened overseas subsidiaries offices in Bank SBI Indonesia (5 offices), Nepal SBI Bank (3 offices) and SBI Mauritius (1 office).
The SBI chief told, “We have also increased our stake from 50 per cent to 55 per cent in Nepal SBI Bank, during the FY2010, making it the bank’s sixth foreign banking subsidiary”.
During the fiscal, bank opened six new overseas offices at Clementi, Marine Parade and Toa Payoh in Singapore, Kowloon in Hong Kong, Harrow in the UK and Lenasia in South Africa, and one branch by the bank’s wholly owned USA subsidiary, SBI (California ) Ltd, at Washington DC. Moreover bank opened overseas subsidiaries offices in Bank SBI Indonesia (5 offices), Nepal SBI Bank (3 offices) and SBI Mauritius (1 office).
The SBI chief told, “We have also increased our stake from 50 per cent to 55 per cent in Nepal SBI Bank, during the FY2010, making it the bank’s sixth foreign banking subsidiary”.
Monday, June 7, 2010
RBI gives nod for SBI & State Bank of Indore merger
SBI & State Bank of Indore merger gets approval of RBI
Finally the merger of State Bank of India and its associate, State Bank of Indore has got clearance from the Reserve Bank of India. According to sources the central bank has given its approval for the merger.
But SBI has not yet given any official confirmation about this.
Last year, the merger of SBI and State Bank of Indore was approved by the central board of the bank and later, the Centre also gave in-principle approval to the proposal. At present SBI have 98 per cent stake in State Bank of Indore.
Thus for the merger SBI has announced a share swap ratio of 34:100 for the merger. It has agreed to give 34 shares of SBI for every 100 shares of State Bank of Indore held by minority shareholders. For this purpose, SBI will be issuing up to over 1.
Finally the merger of State Bank of India and its associate, State Bank of Indore has got clearance from the Reserve Bank of India. According to sources the central bank has given its approval for the merger.
But SBI has not yet given any official confirmation about this.
Last year, the merger of SBI and State Bank of Indore was approved by the central board of the bank and later, the Centre also gave in-principle approval to the proposal. At present SBI have 98 per cent stake in State Bank of Indore.
Thus for the merger SBI has announced a share swap ratio of 34:100 for the merger. It has agreed to give 34 shares of SBI for every 100 shares of State Bank of Indore held by minority shareholders. For this purpose, SBI will be issuing up to over 1.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
SBI sanctioned diary loan to farmers at credit camp
In Patna, the Danapur branch of the State Bank of India (SBI) organized a credit camp for dairy finance on the occasion of “World Milk Day”. In this camp bank sanctioned dairy loan to the farmers. The camp was attended by large number of farmers from neighboring areas.
On the occasion Patna Dairy Project MD Sudhir Kumar Singh highly-praised the pro-active role of SBI in dairy finance and assured to give full support to the bank in making its initiative successful in future.
In the camp bank sanctioned dairy loan of Rs 95 lakh to around 102 farmers in the presence of S K Singh, AGM (AGL), LHO, Patna. Other senior bank officials present on the occasion included Saloni Narain, A Banerjee and Biren Singh.
On the occasion Patna Dairy Project MD Sudhir Kumar Singh highly-praised the pro-active role of SBI in dairy finance and assured to give full support to the bank in making its initiative successful in future.
In the camp bank sanctioned dairy loan of Rs 95 lakh to around 102 farmers in the presence of S K Singh, AGM (AGL), LHO, Patna. Other senior bank officials present on the occasion included Saloni Narain, A Banerjee and Biren Singh.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
SBI to launch ‘mobile wallet’ a cashless payment system
The State Bank of India (SBI), country’s largest lender in the coming months will be launching ‘mobile wallet’- a first of its kind which will reduce weight of our wallets as we don’t have to stuff our wallets with cash when we go for buying vegetables or going to a restaurant. It will also speed up the process for transactions linked to savings account.
A senior official from the bank said, “It will be a stored-value account (based on a) customer handset and it is primarily meant to attract new customers.”
In mobile banking service, the consume sends a payment request via a short messaging service (SMS) text message or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) to a short code and a charge is applied to the customer’s phone bill or, in the proposed SBI unique mobile wallet scheme.
SBI’s mobile wallet scheme will be operational most probably either by the end of August or September this year. The official informed that bank will not levy any charges for opening a mobile wallet and for mobile-to-mobile transactions.
Bank customers who have high-end mobiles can use the service through an application provided by the bank, while low-end mobile users can use SMS.
The high-end mobile users will also be allowed to withdraw cash up to Rs 5,000. The whole transaction process will be secure as the data will go through end-to-end encryption. While the low-end mobile users will not be allowed to withdraw cash but, these consumers will be allowed to use a mobile only for small payments.
However bank has not clarified whether it will charge for cash withdrawals. But the official said the charges for withdrawal can be 1% on the cash withdrawn from an account. At present, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allows only Rs5,000 to be withdrawn through such mobile transactions.
For providing this service, official told, SBI has already signed an agreement with various service providers like Vodafone Essar, Bharti Airtel, Aircel, Tata Docomo and Idea.
Recently, the SBI customers who did not had mobiles equipped with Java or GPRS allowed them to access its application- —‘State Bank freedoM’- which could be availed from all application bases, over Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), and over USSD.
Using this service customers can transfer funds, view balance and mini-statements of their accounts, pay bills, request for cheque book, recharge of prepaid mobile connections, viewing of demat account details, top-up of direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV services, and m-commerce transactions.
SBI launched its 'State Bank freedoM’ service on a pilot basis in March 2009 at all its branches.
A senior official from the bank said, “It will be a stored-value account (based on a) customer handset and it is primarily meant to attract new customers.”
In mobile banking service, the consume sends a payment request via a short messaging service (SMS) text message or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) to a short code and a charge is applied to the customer’s phone bill or, in the proposed SBI unique mobile wallet scheme.
SBI’s mobile wallet scheme will be operational most probably either by the end of August or September this year. The official informed that bank will not levy any charges for opening a mobile wallet and for mobile-to-mobile transactions.
Bank customers who have high-end mobiles can use the service through an application provided by the bank, while low-end mobile users can use SMS.
The high-end mobile users will also be allowed to withdraw cash up to Rs 5,000. The whole transaction process will be secure as the data will go through end-to-end encryption. While the low-end mobile users will not be allowed to withdraw cash but, these consumers will be allowed to use a mobile only for small payments.
However bank has not clarified whether it will charge for cash withdrawals. But the official said the charges for withdrawal can be 1% on the cash withdrawn from an account. At present, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allows only Rs5,000 to be withdrawn through such mobile transactions.
For providing this service, official told, SBI has already signed an agreement with various service providers like Vodafone Essar, Bharti Airtel, Aircel, Tata Docomo and Idea.
Recently, the SBI customers who did not had mobiles equipped with Java or GPRS allowed them to access its application- —‘State Bank freedoM’- which could be availed from all application bases, over Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), and over USSD.
Using this service customers can transfer funds, view balance and mini-statements of their accounts, pay bills, request for cheque book, recharge of prepaid mobile connections, viewing of demat account details, top-up of direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV services, and m-commerce transactions.
SBI launched its 'State Bank freedoM’ service on a pilot basis in March 2009 at all its branches.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
SBI to reach out to around 50,000 unbanked villages as part of financial inclusion drive
The country's largest lender, State Bank of India will be reaching out to around 50,000 unbanked villages in the current fiscal as a part of its financial inclusion drive.
“The bank under financial inclusion initiative has planned to cover 50,000 unbanked villages during 2010-11 which will take total reach to 1,50,000 villages,” a senior official of SBI told PTI.
To achieve this target the bank will be hiring 15,000 business correspondents who will visit rural areas and help people in opening bank accounts.
The official said, “In order to expand our presence in the unbanked areas, the bank intends to hire around 15,000 (business correspondents) in 2010—11.”
The official said as it is not possible for banks to open branches in every villages, thus with the help of a business correspondent and business facilitator model it will be possible to take banking facilities to every part of the country.
In Budget 2011, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said, “To reach the benefits of banking services to the ’Aam Aadmi’ (common man), the RBI had set up a high-level committee on the lead bank scheme.”
Mukherjee had said, “It is also proposed to extend insurance and other services to the targeted beneficiaries. These services will be provided using the business correspondent and other models with appropriate technology back up. By this arrangement, it is proposed to cover 60,000 habitations”.
“The bank under financial inclusion initiative has planned to cover 50,000 unbanked villages during 2010-11 which will take total reach to 1,50,000 villages,” a senior official of SBI told PTI.
To achieve this target the bank will be hiring 15,000 business correspondents who will visit rural areas and help people in opening bank accounts.
The official said, “In order to expand our presence in the unbanked areas, the bank intends to hire around 15,000 (business correspondents) in 2010—11.”
The official said as it is not possible for banks to open branches in every villages, thus with the help of a business correspondent and business facilitator model it will be possible to take banking facilities to every part of the country.
In Budget 2011, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said, “To reach the benefits of banking services to the ’Aam Aadmi’ (common man), the RBI had set up a high-level committee on the lead bank scheme.”
Mukherjee had said, “It is also proposed to extend insurance and other services to the targeted beneficiaries. These services will be provided using the business correspondent and other models with appropriate technology back up. By this arrangement, it is proposed to cover 60,000 habitations”.
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