Page 8 - Banking Finance MAY 2017

BANK UPDATE

Bank and PO transac- ICICI Bank to offer DigiLocker facility from now on
tions is free from ban ICICI Bank has recently announced its new feature along with its retail Internet
banking - 'DigiLocker', an online repository platform for issu-
Ban on cash transaction in excess of ance, verification and storage of digital certificates and docu-
Rs 2 lakh is ments on cloud. DigiLocker is an initiative of the Ministry of
not imposed Electronics & Information Technology.
on with-
"With this integration, all savings account customers of ICICI
drawals
from banks Bank who have mapped their Aadhaar numbers with bank ac-
counts can directly register and access DigiLocker while they
and post office savings accounts, the
are logged in to their Internet banking account," the bank said in a statement.
income tax department said.
ICICI Bank is offering this service free of cost, it said.
Through the Finance Act 2017, the
government had banned cash trans- B Madhivanan, Group Executive and Chief Technology and Digital Officer of ICICI
actions of over Rs 2 lakh and said a Bank, said with the increased adoption of digital technology, "we will continue
to offer diverse range of digital initiatives and amplify the government's efforts
penalty of an equal amount would be
levied on the receiver. towards a digitally empowered community".

In a clarification on the newly in- South Indian Bank tie up with Flyworld for facilitation
serted section -- 269ST - in the in-
come tax act, the Central Board of of Australian emigrants
Direct Taxes (CBDT) said the restric- South Indian Bank has tied up with Flyworld Money Exchange to smooth out
tion shall not apply to withdrawal allowance procedure of Indian expatriates in Australia.
from banks and post offices. Through this tie-up, NRIs in Australia could enjoy quick
and cost-effective remittances to India using the SIB Ex-
"It has also been decided that the re- press facility. Using this facility, NRIs can now remit
striction on cash transaction shall not funds with ease to any commercial bank in India. SIB
apply to withdrawal of cash from a has a correspondent banking arrangement with National Australia Bank for re-
bank, co-operative bank or a post of-
fice savings bank," the statement mittances to India.
said. With this agreement, SIB marks the first remittance arrangement with an ex-
change house in Australia. The new facility will enable the bank to reach the
SBI to shut down Paris Indian Diaspora in Australia more efficiently. Customers as well as non-custom-
branch due to cost esca- ers can utilise this facility through the Flyworld Money Exchange across Austra-
lia or use the online platform provided by the exchange house to make remit-
lation tances to India.
State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to
scale down its Operating cost of Jan Dhan accounts is Rs 774.86 crore
presence in The total cost of operation of Jan Dhan accounts by State Bank of India is Rs
Paris, by con- 774.86 crore. "Bank-wise and year-wise information on the cost
verting its of operation of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan accounts is not main-
branch into a tained. However, the total cost of operation of Jan Dhan Yojana
representative office to stem dent in (PMJDY) accounts as reported by State Bank of India as on De-
returns on investments due to rising cember 31, 2106, is Rs 774.86 crore," Minister of State for Fi-
compliance costs. Europe is very costly nance Santosh Kumar Gangwar said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
for the operations, given the fact that The minister said the number of zero balance Jan Dhan accounts was 5.93 crore
capital is so scarce and costly now. At as on November 9, 2016, and 6.32 crore as on December 28, 2016 and as per
present, the return from the office in report received from public sector banks, RRBs and 13 private banks, as on March
Paris is not according to the bench- 15, there are 28.02 crore Jan Dhan accounts and 1.8 crore operational ones have
marks set for operations. deposits of more than Rs 5,000.

8 | 2017 | MAY | BANKING FINANCE

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