State Bank of India (SBI) has achieved almost 100% target of the opening of the bank accounts in the districts where it is a lead bank for direct cash transfer (DCT) scheme. In Nandurbar district, it has achieved 100% coverage while in North Goa district it has been able to open 99% of targeted account. In North Goa, scheme is set to roll out from February while in Nandurbar it is scheduled to start from March.
In other 5 districts of Maharashtra and Goa where the scheme is set to roll out in the first phase we have been able to open 95% of intended account, said JN Misra, chief general manager (Maharashtra and Goa), SBI.
Meanwhile, SBI today formally announced the launch of its mobile wallet facility. In mobile wallet, the customer doesn’t require to have an account with SBI. Customer can put a balance of maximum Rs 10,000 and can transact up to Rs 15,000 in a month. However, the cap on the amount transacted is Rs 5,000 per transaction. The limits are in place because this wallet doesn’t require any kind of KYC. However, if KYC is done, customer can avail higher transaction limits.
The wallet also doesn’t require any particular mobile operator or handset. It also can be operated with SMS also. Currently, this would be available only in Mumbai and Delhi, and the bank plans to roll out the same in the rest of the country gradually. Using wallet a customer can carry out transactions like mobile phone recharge, DTH top up, remittance to other bank accounts, etc.
The bank has about 54 lakh customers using its mobile banking facility and plans to double this in the next one year. SBI is taking various steps to shore up its low cost CASA base. Launching of the mobile wallet is one of them. The bank also plans to have about 1 lakh point of sales (PoS) terminals by March and it has activated about 54,000 PoS till date. SBI had a CASA ratio of 44.95% as of September quarter down from 47.43% a year ago.
