Page 9 - Banking Finance September 2018

BANK UPDATE

RTGS transactions in SBI accounts hub shifts from Kolkata to Mumbai
Banks cross Rs.100-lakh Almost after 100 years of its existence in Kolkata, the prestigious Central Ac-
counts Office (CAO) of State Bank of India has been
crore shifted to its headquarters in Mumbai. It means that

The transactions under RTGS have SBI's fourth quarter as well as annual financial results
crossed will no longer be signed and announced in Kolkata.
record The Imperial Bank of India, the predecessor outfit of
Rs 100 SBI, had set up the CAO in Kolkata in 1928 in order to
lakh deal with some accounting centralized jobs of the bank. After the formation of
crore, SBI in 1955, the arrangement was continued to be followed by the new board
accord- till this aqnnouncement.
ing to the Reserve Bank of India. The
customer transactions under RTGS Banks NPA's surge to Rs. 9.61 lakh crore
stood at Rs 101.13 lakh crore in June Banks in India recorded NPA's of more than Rs 9.61 lakh crore by the end of
2018, compared to Rs 93.76 lakh 2017-18 while loans to industries formed a major chunk
crore in May 2018.
of such non-performing assets. After the asset quality
Ramaswamy Venkatachalam, Re- review (AQR) directed by the Reserve Bank to lenders
gional Managing Director - India and in 2015, transparent recognition of stressed assets as
South Asia, FIS, said, "It's an impor- non-performing assets began, Minister of State for Fi-
tant milestone in journey of making nance Shiv Pratap Shukla said in Parliament. "As a re-
India a cashless economy. sult of transparent recognition of stressed assets as

The customer transactions under NPAs, aggregate gross non-performing assets of scheduled commercial banks,
RTGS crossing record 100 lakh crore- as per Reserve Bank data for domestic operations, increased to Rs 9,61,962 crore
mark, depicts the rapid progress In- as on March 31, 2018," Shukla said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
dia has made in arena of digital pay-
ments. SBI asks customers to convert Savings bank A/c to 'ba-
The Government of India has pro- sic account' to avoid maintenance charges
vided several incentives for real-time State Bank of India has clarified that one could convert his/her Savings Bank
payments, which has further en- (SB) account to a Basic Savings Bank Deposit (BSBD)
hanced users to adopt the mode of account to avoid penalty for not maintaining aver-
digital transaction. The banks have age monthly balance (AMB).
also been supporting their customers
The bank has around 42.5 crore SB accounts, of
with digital capabilities that facilitate
an extensive range of financial activi- which almost 40 per cent are under the exempted
ties." category. Customers also have the option to convert
their existing SB accounts to BSBD accounts, free of cost.
He further added, "The digital pay-
ments in India are soaring on the It also reiterated that effective April 2018, the AMB requirement has been re-
back of trail blasing technology, duced up to 40 per cent, keeping in view the feedback from various stakehold-
which is facilitating retail transac- ers. Similarly, the bank has steeply reduced charges for non-maintenance of AMB
tions at large. The data usage for 300 up to 70 per cent in metro/urban and semi-urban categories. Charges in rural
million Indian smartphone users has market were also reduced up to 75 per cent.
jumped to 5-10 GB per month, and It claimed that its charges for non-maintenance of AMB are among the lowest
with 800 million bank accounts now in the industry. It charges between Rs.5-15 (plus GST) for various levels of short-
linked to mobile, the digital pay- fall in different areas. Its customers are required to maintain an average monthly
ments space may soon leapfrog to balance of Rs.3,000 for SB accounts in metros and urban areas, Rs.2,000 in semi-
next era of money transaction." urban and Rs.1,000 in rural areas.

BANKING FINANCE | SEPTEMBER | 2018 | 9