State Bank of India (SBI), country’s largest lender is offering banking services through kiosks branches set up at kirana stores. At these branches you can open an account, deposit cash, withdraw or transfer money and will get a ‘pakka’ receipt for it.
SBI is offering this service in partnership with pre-paid services provider Oxigen Services - a bill payment, mobile recharge and ticketing systems provider.
The bank has opened the first 50 kiosks in Mumbai, including one in Dharavi and will be opening around 1,000 more in the city and another 870 across the state.
According to bank sources 30 kiosks branches have also been opened in Delhi. In Bihar and UP kiosks will start operation by October 2010.
Soon other banks will start offering such service.
The SBI kiosk will offer banking services in six languages.
To open an account at the selected kirana stores a person need to carry a photo ID and address proof. The account will be a no-frills account, where to maintain a minimum balance is not mandatory. The shopkeeper will take a photo of the person using a webcam and also fingerprints with a biometric device.
Pramod Saxena, managing director and chairman at Oxigen said, “The know-your-customer verification process is diluted here; the regular KYC is so stringent that daily wage earners and migrants get excluded from banking facilities.”
If a person who wants to open an account does not have an address proof, then he can get a letter from the mukhiya of his native place or letter from employer stating the place of stay, will serve as address proof. No personal verification will be done as done for a regular bank account and the fingerprints will serve as the main identification.
At a regular SBI bank branch the cost of opening an account comes to Rs400 but at these kiosks branches the cost will be as low as Rs20.
The limit of deposit of cash or withdrawal at these kiosks is up to Rs 10,000 per day, while the total balance in any account can not cross Rs 50,000 at any given point.
There will be no charges for cash deposit but for withdrawal you will have to pay Rs 25 per transaction if it is done at kiosks other than one where you have opened an account.
The money can be transferred from kirana account to the regular SBI account, but you cannot access kirana account through a bank branch.
At present the SBI bank customers having regular savings account cannot access banking through kirana stores.
Gradually micro loans, insurance and remittance will be offered to these account holders.
Riten Ghose, general manager, Mumbai at SBI said, “Through the Dharavi microfinance branch we will be financing Rs50 crore by March 2011.”
Soon other banks follow the path and more kirana stores start offering banking services.
An Oxigen official pointed out, “Other banks, private included have been approaching us. But at least for the next couple of months we do not want to sign on any other bank.”
However Oxigen is offering other services such as bill payments, railway ticket booking, mobile recharge and DTH payments through 20,000 web kiosks and, now banking service has been added to the same network.
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