Base rate is coming into play from 1st July 2010. Although banks have been working on the process of base rate system but all are looking at State Bank of India (SBI). Now the guessing game by banks on each other’s base rate is likely to get over as country’s top bankers are going to meet on the request of SBI to discuss the new loan pricing system.
The meeting will be held a day before i.e. June 15, a fortnight before SBI will make announcement of its base rate, SBI Chairman O P Bhatt said.
However, most of the banks are still have to decide about their base rate and the parameters to be taken into account for calculating the new benchmark. A key parameter is the cost of funds, which can cause a huge variance across banks. For example, if bank base rate is calculated on the basis of overnight cost of funds, which is very low, then the base rate will be significantly lower in comparison to other bank which takes one-year average cost of funds into account.
Thus most of the banks, especially the small banks are waiting for SBI’s base rate announcement. In this meeting all the banks will come to know what their colleagues are contemplating and help put in place an industry-wide consensus.
Last year, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had formed a committee headed by Executive Director Deepak Mohanty to review the present system of benchmark prime lending rate as all the banks have different BPLR due to which there is a wide variation in the interest rates offered to the loan borrowers. Therefore the regulator with a aim to bring greater transparency in risk pricing issued final guidelines in April, although the decision about the mechanism was left completely in the hands of banks.
Bhatt said SBI will conduct three more internal meetings to before deciding the final number. Although he gave a hint that bank’s base rate can be around 8%. For its staff members the bank will be announcing its base rate a fortnight before the scheduled roll out so that it gets familiar with the model and the calculation part.
On the other hand Punjab National Bank, country’s second-largest state-run lender, has said that its base rate might be around 8-8.5%.
It is believed the new base rate system will help in eliminating the wide variations prevailing under the BPLR regime. Most of the government owned banks have BPLR around 11-12 per cent, whereas the private banks have BPLR as high as 15.75 per cent.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
SBI offers helping hand to Mangalore air crash victims’ families
The plane crash at Mangalore airport on Saturday morning killing all except 8 passengers has left the country in shock and grief. To help the families of the victims, the country’s largest bank, State Bank of India has offered a helping hand. It will provide assistance in transferring funds free of cost to the families of the victims, the official sources said.
"SBI has come forward to provide assistance to families of victims who perished in the crash near Bajpe airport here yesterday," Karnataka Coastal Development Authority Chairman Nagaraj Shetty, who is coordinating the operation at Wenlock hospital here, said.
After meeting a senior bank officer at the hospital Nagaraj said, he has been told that assistance to transfer funds and other processing services will be provided free of cost at SBI’s branches in Mangalore, select branches in Kerala and the one in Dubai.
He added, this will include compensation amounts announced by Karnataka government and the centre.
"SBI has come forward to provide assistance to families of victims who perished in the crash near Bajpe airport here yesterday," Karnataka Coastal Development Authority Chairman Nagaraj Shetty, who is coordinating the operation at Wenlock hospital here, said.
After meeting a senior bank officer at the hospital Nagaraj said, he has been told that assistance to transfer funds and other processing services will be provided free of cost at SBI’s branches in Mangalore, select branches in Kerala and the one in Dubai.
He added, this will include compensation amounts announced by Karnataka government and the centre.
Thursday, May 20, 2010
SBI extension of teaser home loan to depend on liquidity condition
State Bank of India might extend its special home loan scheme further. Recently the bank had extended its special home loan scheme up till June 30, 2010. Sources said that the bank's decision to further extend the scheme will depend on its liquidity condition. As on March 31, 2010, surplus liquidity of the bank was Rs 40,000 crore.
Under the special home loan scheme SBI is offering loans at 8% interest for the first year and 8.5 per cent for the second and third years. After this period it becomes a floating rate depending on the prevailing interest rates.
Mr R. Sridharan, Managing Director and Group Executive (Associates and Subsidiaries), SBI said, “We are sitting on surplus liquidity at present, lending at eight per cent would make more sense than parking the funds in reverse repo, which will fetch us only about 3-3.5 per cent. We will review the need for extending the scheme further based on our liquidity position.”
Last year when bank launched the scheme, it was for three months in August 2009 as a festival offer for home buyers thereafter the scheme was extended up till March 31, 2010. Then again it has been extended to June 30, 2010.
Under the scheme loans up to Rs 50 lakh and tenure of 25 years were offered at 8 per cent interest rate during first year and 8.5 per cent fixed during the second and third year.
After three years, interest rate is calculated at 2.75 per cent below SBAR (for floating rate) and 1.25 per cent below SBAR with a reset frequency of five years.
However for loans above Rs 50 lakh bank offers interest rate of 8% for first year and 9% for the second and third year.
Mr Sridharan said, the special scheme did not have any negative affect on bank net interest margin (NIM) and added, “It has only had a positive impact on our margins.”
In fact by the end of quarter on March 31, 2010, bank’s NIM had improved at 2.96% as against 2.39% during the corresponding period last year.
The bank’s home loan has increase by about 32 per cent at Rs 71,193 crore as on March 31, 2010, against Rs 54,063 crore during the year ago period.
During the announcement of the bank’s annual performance report Mr S.K. Bhattacharya, Managing Director, SBI told that more than 95 per cent of customers (in rural, semi urban and urban areas) were first time home buyers.
Earlier bank sanctioned around 14,400 loans ever month in February 2009 after the launch of this scheme bank had witnessed 50 per cent increase in average home loan sanctions, to 22,000 in September 2009.
Last year, when SBI launched its ‘teaser rates’ other lenders were forced to launch the similar products.
But when RBI showed concern over the teaser rate schemes other banks withdrew the scheme in March, but SBI extended its scheme. HDFC also followed the suit and extended its teaser rate home loan scheme till June 30.
Under its special scheme HDFC bank offered fixed rate of 8.25 per cent up to March 2011, nine per cent for the next one year thereafter it becomes the floating rate depending up on the prevailing rate. Although scheme had expired last month but now it has been extended till June 30, 2010.
Under the special home loan scheme SBI is offering loans at 8% interest for the first year and 8.5 per cent for the second and third years. After this period it becomes a floating rate depending on the prevailing interest rates.
Mr R. Sridharan, Managing Director and Group Executive (Associates and Subsidiaries), SBI said, “We are sitting on surplus liquidity at present, lending at eight per cent would make more sense than parking the funds in reverse repo, which will fetch us only about 3-3.5 per cent. We will review the need for extending the scheme further based on our liquidity position.”
Last year when bank launched the scheme, it was for three months in August 2009 as a festival offer for home buyers thereafter the scheme was extended up till March 31, 2010. Then again it has been extended to June 30, 2010.
Under the scheme loans up to Rs 50 lakh and tenure of 25 years were offered at 8 per cent interest rate during first year and 8.5 per cent fixed during the second and third year.
After three years, interest rate is calculated at 2.75 per cent below SBAR (for floating rate) and 1.25 per cent below SBAR with a reset frequency of five years.
However for loans above Rs 50 lakh bank offers interest rate of 8% for first year and 9% for the second and third year.
Mr Sridharan said, the special scheme did not have any negative affect on bank net interest margin (NIM) and added, “It has only had a positive impact on our margins.”
In fact by the end of quarter on March 31, 2010, bank’s NIM had improved at 2.96% as against 2.39% during the corresponding period last year.
The bank’s home loan has increase by about 32 per cent at Rs 71,193 crore as on March 31, 2010, against Rs 54,063 crore during the year ago period.
During the announcement of the bank’s annual performance report Mr S.K. Bhattacharya, Managing Director, SBI told that more than 95 per cent of customers (in rural, semi urban and urban areas) were first time home buyers.
Earlier bank sanctioned around 14,400 loans ever month in February 2009 after the launch of this scheme bank had witnessed 50 per cent increase in average home loan sanctions, to 22,000 in September 2009.
Last year, when SBI launched its ‘teaser rates’ other lenders were forced to launch the similar products.
But when RBI showed concern over the teaser rate schemes other banks withdrew the scheme in March, but SBI extended its scheme. HDFC also followed the suit and extended its teaser rate home loan scheme till June 30.
Under its special scheme HDFC bank offered fixed rate of 8.25 per cent up to March 2011, nine per cent for the next one year thereafter it becomes the floating rate depending up on the prevailing rate. Although scheme had expired last month but now it has been extended till June 30, 2010.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Customers having non-Java, non –GPRS mobile can use SBI's mobile banking service
The mobile banking services of State Bank India- 'State Bank freedoM' will now be available on non-Java and non- GPRS mobile phones as well.
Up till now the service was available only on Java-enabled mobile phones over SMS/GPRS/WAP and on non-Java phones with GPRS connections.
According to bank press release customers can avail the mobile banking service on non-Java mobile phones without the GPRS facility.
SBI had launched 'State Bank freedoM' in March 2009 on a pilot basis in all its branches of the bank, offering its retail customers an alternative channel for a 'secured Anytime Anywhere Banking experience'.
Registration for this service is free and can be done at ATMs and customers holding debit cards can also register for this facility without visiting any branch, the release said.
However customers will have to pay charges levied by telecom operators for the use of SMS/GPRS.
Using this service customers can transfer funds, inquire and view balance, get mini statements of their accounts, pay bills, request for cheque book, recharge of prepaid mobile connections, viewing of demat account details, top-up of Tata Sky/other direct-to-home services, and conduct of m-commerce transactions.
The service is available over all modes -- application based, over Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), and over USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data).
At present USSD-based service has been launched on five telecom operators - Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, Tata Docomo and Idea, and can be used over low-cost mobile handsets with limited sets of offerings within a daily financial limit of Rs1, 000. The limit is Rs50, 000 for application- and WAP-based services.
The customer can continue using 'State Bank freedoM' services without disruption if the user has changed the mobile number by offering the option to change the mobile number through the system without visiting any branch.
The bank is planning to add more services like purchase of air/rail/movie tickets through the application of 'ngpay' among others.
Soon SBI will be launching 'mobile wallet', based on the policy approved by its board. Thus bank plans to take mobile banking to non-customers, the release said.
Up till now the service was available only on Java-enabled mobile phones over SMS/GPRS/WAP and on non-Java phones with GPRS connections.
According to bank press release customers can avail the mobile banking service on non-Java mobile phones without the GPRS facility.
SBI had launched 'State Bank freedoM' in March 2009 on a pilot basis in all its branches of the bank, offering its retail customers an alternative channel for a 'secured Anytime Anywhere Banking experience'.
Registration for this service is free and can be done at ATMs and customers holding debit cards can also register for this facility without visiting any branch, the release said.
However customers will have to pay charges levied by telecom operators for the use of SMS/GPRS.
Using this service customers can transfer funds, inquire and view balance, get mini statements of their accounts, pay bills, request for cheque book, recharge of prepaid mobile connections, viewing of demat account details, top-up of Tata Sky/other direct-to-home services, and conduct of m-commerce transactions.
The service is available over all modes -- application based, over Wireless Application Protocol (WAP), and over USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data).
At present USSD-based service has been launched on five telecom operators - Vodafone, Airtel, Aircel, Tata Docomo and Idea, and can be used over low-cost mobile handsets with limited sets of offerings within a daily financial limit of Rs1, 000. The limit is Rs50, 000 for application- and WAP-based services.
The customer can continue using 'State Bank freedoM' services without disruption if the user has changed the mobile number by offering the option to change the mobile number through the system without visiting any branch.
The bank is planning to add more services like purchase of air/rail/movie tickets through the application of 'ngpay' among others.
Soon SBI will be launching 'mobile wallet', based on the policy approved by its board. Thus bank plans to take mobile banking to non-customers, the release said.
Monday, May 17, 2010
SBI chief signals at rise in interest rates
State Bank of India (SBI) Chairman Mr O.P. Bhatt has said in the coming days bank might raise the interest rates.
He said, “There continues to be surplus liquidity in the system and credit offtake has not picked up, in fact it has been negative and by the end of June it could be flat. Capital inflows also look good for now, so there is no pressure on liquidity, however, if RBI takes steps to control inflation, liquidity could dry up, and there could be an upward bias in interest rate.”
The bank plans to raise Rs 15,000-20,000 crore, if possible through rights issue by the end of this fiscal.
He added, “We have adequate capital at present. But we are in talks with the Government for seeking their approval for a rights issue, which would help us maintain the Government's stake at the present level of 59 per cent”.
The bank might also look at the option of raising funds by reducing government stake from 59 per cent.
He said, “Though rights issue will be the preferred route, in case government does not agree for that, then we have the cushion of bringing down government's stake to 55 per cent (59 per cent). There is also a Bill in the Parliament, which will enable us to bring down government's stake further to 51 per cent so we can dilute up to eight per cent and can rise about Rs 20,000 crore.”
The bank is also planning to launch retail bond issue of about Rs 200 crore in the first half of this year. The duration of the bonds will be 15 years, with a call option for 10 years, or duration of 10 years, with a call option of five years, he said.
He informed that bank also want its life insurance venture, SBI Life to get listed. He said, “We are not in need of capital for the company, but we would like it to be listed, so that there can be some price discovery. We are in touch with IRDA for that.”
Regarding its venture in overseas, it is planning into the Latin American countries.
“There are places where we already have licenses. For example, in Botswana we already have licenses and we have not utilized that so far,” he said.
The bank is also thinking of opening branches in countries such as in Africa where there is business from India but the bank has no presence so far, He said the Indian companies might go for doing business in energy, metals or minerals.
The told SBI Cards, the credit card venture of the bank is likely to achieve break even by the end of this fiscal as the losses are reducing, and added, “The losses have been coming down, we have been able to issue about 25,000 fresh cards on a monthly basis; we are hopeful of breaking even by this fiscal.” In the present fiscal the net loss by credit has come down by 17 per cent at Rs 154 crore (Rs 185 crore).
He said, “There continues to be surplus liquidity in the system and credit offtake has not picked up, in fact it has been negative and by the end of June it could be flat. Capital inflows also look good for now, so there is no pressure on liquidity, however, if RBI takes steps to control inflation, liquidity could dry up, and there could be an upward bias in interest rate.”
The bank plans to raise Rs 15,000-20,000 crore, if possible through rights issue by the end of this fiscal.
He added, “We have adequate capital at present. But we are in talks with the Government for seeking their approval for a rights issue, which would help us maintain the Government's stake at the present level of 59 per cent”.
The bank might also look at the option of raising funds by reducing government stake from 59 per cent.
He said, “Though rights issue will be the preferred route, in case government does not agree for that, then we have the cushion of bringing down government's stake to 55 per cent (59 per cent). There is also a Bill in the Parliament, which will enable us to bring down government's stake further to 51 per cent so we can dilute up to eight per cent and can rise about Rs 20,000 crore.”
The bank is also planning to launch retail bond issue of about Rs 200 crore in the first half of this year. The duration of the bonds will be 15 years, with a call option for 10 years, or duration of 10 years, with a call option of five years, he said.
He informed that bank also want its life insurance venture, SBI Life to get listed. He said, “We are not in need of capital for the company, but we would like it to be listed, so that there can be some price discovery. We are in touch with IRDA for that.”
Regarding its venture in overseas, it is planning into the Latin American countries.
“There are places where we already have licenses. For example, in Botswana we already have licenses and we have not utilized that so far,” he said.
The bank is also thinking of opening branches in countries such as in Africa where there is business from India but the bank has no presence so far, He said the Indian companies might go for doing business in energy, metals or minerals.
The told SBI Cards, the credit card venture of the bank is likely to achieve break even by the end of this fiscal as the losses are reducing, and added, “The losses have been coming down, we have been able to issue about 25,000 fresh cards on a monthly basis; we are hopeful of breaking even by this fiscal.” In the present fiscal the net loss by credit has come down by 17 per cent at Rs 154 crore (Rs 185 crore).
Monday, May 10, 2010
SBI revived loan scheme for farmers, to offer loan at 8.5%
State Bank of India, country’s largest lender has now come with a new scheme for farmers. Bank has revived its scheme under which it will provide irrigation and crop loans to the farmers at cheap rates. The bank aims to help farmers during the upcoming kharif season, and the rabi season later, a bank official pointed out. Earlier bank extended its special home loans scheme till end June 2010.
However SBI has marginally increased its lending rates for the special scheme which was first launched to help farmers hit by weak monsoons and drought conditions last year. This has been done as the bank’s cost of funds that increased in the period. The bank official clarified, that it has kept the rates still lower than normal floating rates loan.
In a released issue, SBI said it will be offering all fresh minor irrigation loans at 8.5% in the first year and 9.5% for the second and third years. These rates will be applicable for loans up to Rs 25 lakh and payable in three years and above. The normal rates will be around 10.50% to 13.25%.
The bank said crop loans will be given for one year on 10% rate for a sum above Rs 3 lakh and up to Rs 25 lakh. If the repayment is done timely then an additional 1% concession will be given, this is being done to encourage, “timely repayment culture.”
The crop loans under Rs 3 lakh will be offered at 7% and the concession for timely repayment here will be 2%, as per the interest subvention scheme of the central government. An anonymous SBI official said, “A combination of minor irrigation and crop finance concessions are required for helping farmers build capacity at this juncture.”
Bank has not changed margin money for new minor irrigation loans it continues at 10% flat from the original levels of 15% to 25% of the project cost. It has extended the moratorium period by one year for minor irrigation loans. The release said the repayment period for new loans has also been extended by one year.
In 2009-10 India’s food grain output is expected to equal last year’s levels in spite of the worst drought in 37 years hitting the summer crop hard, with the bumper winter crop output is expected to make up for the shortfall in the summer production, according to recent ET report.
However SBI has marginally increased its lending rates for the special scheme which was first launched to help farmers hit by weak monsoons and drought conditions last year. This has been done as the bank’s cost of funds that increased in the period. The bank official clarified, that it has kept the rates still lower than normal floating rates loan.
In a released issue, SBI said it will be offering all fresh minor irrigation loans at 8.5% in the first year and 9.5% for the second and third years. These rates will be applicable for loans up to Rs 25 lakh and payable in three years and above. The normal rates will be around 10.50% to 13.25%.
The bank said crop loans will be given for one year on 10% rate for a sum above Rs 3 lakh and up to Rs 25 lakh. If the repayment is done timely then an additional 1% concession will be given, this is being done to encourage, “timely repayment culture.”
The crop loans under Rs 3 lakh will be offered at 7% and the concession for timely repayment here will be 2%, as per the interest subvention scheme of the central government. An anonymous SBI official said, “A combination of minor irrigation and crop finance concessions are required for helping farmers build capacity at this juncture.”
Bank has not changed margin money for new minor irrigation loans it continues at 10% flat from the original levels of 15% to 25% of the project cost. It has extended the moratorium period by one year for minor irrigation loans. The release said the repayment period for new loans has also been extended by one year.
In 2009-10 India’s food grain output is expected to equal last year’s levels in spite of the worst drought in 37 years hitting the summer crop hard, with the bumper winter crop output is expected to make up for the shortfall in the summer production, according to recent ET report.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
SBI finalized two US based firms for joint venture of POS terminals network
State bank of India has finalized two US-based companies for the joint venture regarding the setting up of a network of point-of-sale (POS) terminals across the country. The two companies are Visa International and Elavon Inc.
The two foreign partners will provide payments technology solutions to SBI for setting up six lakh POS terminals at merchant establishments over the next five years.
The POS terminals are devices kept with retail and hospitality establishments for processing credit cards, debit cards, smart cards and other electronically submitted transactions in a traditional retail environment.
The POS system installed at retail includes a computer, monitor, cash drawer, receipt printer, customer display, barcode scanner, integrated card processing system, a signature capture device and a customer pin-pad device. When customer make payment with card, the merchant swipes the card at the terminal on keys-in payment information and the terminal does the rest.
At present merchant establishments in India, have to pay between 1.5 and 2.5 per cent of the transaction value to merchant acquiring banks. SBI is having talks with its partners to finalize the details of the joint venture, including signing of the memorandum of understanding, shareholders' agreement, capital structure and Foreign Investment Promotion Board approval for capital infusion, with its partners.
In January 2010 bank had launched SBI Payment Services Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned company, the joint venture partners will be initiated in the company to carry out merchant acquiring business.
A senior official told in the joint venture SBI will be the major share holder (over 51 per cent stake) even after the wholly owned subsidiary is converted into a joint venture. He added, the new entity will be a good source of non interest income.
As the POS terminal will be a tool for acquiring and retaining merchant establishments as customers, these can further be used for financial inclusion as it can be used as an alternative delivery channel in areas where it is not feasible to set up a branch or an ATM, said the official. In order to enhance usage of plastic money for the customer convenience the RBI has set the cash withdrawals up to Rs 1,000 a day per debit card issued in India at POS terminals.
A merchant establishment's account gets credited by about Rs 5 for every Rs 1,000 disbursed through the swiping of the card and SBI has issued around 7 crore debit cards up till now therefore the POS terminal will help in increasing their usage
As a future plan bank is thinking of using POS for mobile top-ups, utility bill payments, booking of railway and movie tickets.
The two foreign partners will provide payments technology solutions to SBI for setting up six lakh POS terminals at merchant establishments over the next five years.
The POS terminals are devices kept with retail and hospitality establishments for processing credit cards, debit cards, smart cards and other electronically submitted transactions in a traditional retail environment.
The POS system installed at retail includes a computer, monitor, cash drawer, receipt printer, customer display, barcode scanner, integrated card processing system, a signature capture device and a customer pin-pad device. When customer make payment with card, the merchant swipes the card at the terminal on keys-in payment information and the terminal does the rest.
At present merchant establishments in India, have to pay between 1.5 and 2.5 per cent of the transaction value to merchant acquiring banks. SBI is having talks with its partners to finalize the details of the joint venture, including signing of the memorandum of understanding, shareholders' agreement, capital structure and Foreign Investment Promotion Board approval for capital infusion, with its partners.
In January 2010 bank had launched SBI Payment Services Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned company, the joint venture partners will be initiated in the company to carry out merchant acquiring business.
A senior official told in the joint venture SBI will be the major share holder (over 51 per cent stake) even after the wholly owned subsidiary is converted into a joint venture. He added, the new entity will be a good source of non interest income.
As the POS terminal will be a tool for acquiring and retaining merchant establishments as customers, these can further be used for financial inclusion as it can be used as an alternative delivery channel in areas where it is not feasible to set up a branch or an ATM, said the official. In order to enhance usage of plastic money for the customer convenience the RBI has set the cash withdrawals up to Rs 1,000 a day per debit card issued in India at POS terminals.
A merchant establishment's account gets credited by about Rs 5 for every Rs 1,000 disbursed through the swiping of the card and SBI has issued around 7 crore debit cards up till now therefore the POS terminal will help in increasing their usage
As a future plan bank is thinking of using POS for mobile top-ups, utility bill payments, booking of railway and movie tickets.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
SBI offers defence salary package for Indian Air Force
The State Bank of India, country’s largest lender as its commitment to offer best services to defence personnel has launched a defence salary package for the Indian Air Force. Before this, bank had announced similar package for Army and Navy personnel.
The bank will offer an array of concessional services such as zero balance accounts, interest rate concessions on loans, preferential allotment of lockers and free mobile banking.
During the launch of product SBI chairman O P Bhatt said, "I recommit that SBI would serve the very best we can."
In the package bank will provide free drafts and free cheque books and free funds transfer facility to any of the State Bank Group's networks of almost 16,000 branches or any other bank in India, besides free ATM cards and other features.
SBI further said it is planning to add 5,000 ATMs to its existing count of 20,000, out of which large number of ATMs will be established to serve Air Force formations which will benefit more than one lakh Air Force personnel.
The package offered to Air Force personnel include opening of zero balance accounts with a unique lifetime account number, valid even after retirement, and offers free mobile banking services, preferential allotment of lockers and interest rate concessions on home, car and personal loans, among others.
SBI said, "The bank's network of business correspondents appointed in unbanked rural areas will also be available for the basic banking requirement of the Air Force personnel and their families."
Speaking on the occasion, Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said, "I hope SBI would meet the expectations of defence personnel," and added that he would recommend the SBI chairman to translate it into a reality at the earliest.
The bank will offer an array of concessional services such as zero balance accounts, interest rate concessions on loans, preferential allotment of lockers and free mobile banking.
During the launch of product SBI chairman O P Bhatt said, "I recommit that SBI would serve the very best we can."
In the package bank will provide free drafts and free cheque books and free funds transfer facility to any of the State Bank Group's networks of almost 16,000 branches or any other bank in India, besides free ATM cards and other features.
SBI further said it is planning to add 5,000 ATMs to its existing count of 20,000, out of which large number of ATMs will be established to serve Air Force formations which will benefit more than one lakh Air Force personnel.
The package offered to Air Force personnel include opening of zero balance accounts with a unique lifetime account number, valid even after retirement, and offers free mobile banking services, preferential allotment of lockers and interest rate concessions on home, car and personal loans, among others.
SBI said, "The bank's network of business correspondents appointed in unbanked rural areas will also be available for the basic banking requirement of the Air Force personnel and their families."
Speaking on the occasion, Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said, "I hope SBI would meet the expectations of defence personnel," and added that he would recommend the SBI chairman to translate it into a reality at the earliest.
SBI to install barcode-enabled ATMs
Mostly the senior citizen prefer to pay bills in personal as they are not comfortable in using ATM or make payment with debit cards, due to this they have to stand in long queues to pay bills. SBI is introducing barcode-enabled ATM throughout the country
If you are not tech savvy and have to stand in the long queue to pay bills, then you have a reason to smile. SBI is introducing barcode-enabled ATM throughout the country for faultless bill payment facility. The process will be completed in phases and over 5 crore SBI customers across the country will be able to use this facility.
SBI official said, the payments of the bills having barcode can be made at these specialized ATM. He added, "This can be used to pay mobile, electricity, credit card as well as civic authority bills.”
The official told the first such ATM will be set up in West Bengal's Mursidabad district, which houses the constituency of FM Pranab Mukherjee. In the first phase, three such ATM machines will be installed in the state. Later, 13 more barcode-enabled ATMs will be rolled out. The official told for this process bank has already tied up with Airtel and Vodafone.
If you are not tech savvy and have to stand in the long queue to pay bills, then you have a reason to smile. SBI is introducing barcode-enabled ATM throughout the country for faultless bill payment facility. The process will be completed in phases and over 5 crore SBI customers across the country will be able to use this facility.
SBI official said, the payments of the bills having barcode can be made at these specialized ATM. He added, "This can be used to pay mobile, electricity, credit card as well as civic authority bills.”
The official told the first such ATM will be set up in West Bengal's Mursidabad district, which houses the constituency of FM Pranab Mukherjee. In the first phase, three such ATM machines will be installed in the state. Later, 13 more barcode-enabled ATMs will be rolled out. The official told for this process bank has already tied up with Airtel and Vodafone.
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