AC cabs, foreign trip offer...

Lenders in year-end rush for deposits

With a scramble for deposits at the end of financial year, banks are using every possible trick to boost employee performance. State Bank of India officers in rural areas have now been given air-conditioned  cabs to mobilise deposits.

Besides providing higher interest rates on deposits, some private banks also have incentive and reward plans linked to achieving year-end targets.

SBI, the country’s largest lender, okayed use of AC cars from February to rural branch managers. “It is quite a tough task to reach out in remote places. But we do not want this (remoteness) to become a reason (read excuse) for not raising money, despite the potential,” said a top SBI official. It has 5,619 branches in the rural hinterland, in a total branch network of 14,677.

Another SBI official said it was not that the bank had run out of surplus money; it had an extra Rs 50,000 crore and deposits had grown 14 per cent over a year as of end-February.

A senior Mumbai-based public sector bank said there was a fiat to keep the share of bulk money (large size, high cost, short-term deposits) to the minimum. Hence the pressure on retail tapping, be it for term deposits or savings accounts.

According to the Reserve Bank of India, the pace of deposit mobilisation had slowed to 12.7 per cent (year on year) in February, compared to 14.4 per cent a year before.

Small and mid-sized private banks are paying a higher interest compared to their bigger rivals to attract retail depositors.  N Kamakodi, managing director and chief executive of City Union Bank, said: “Our focus is to grow the retail term deposit base consistently. We are offering 50-100 basis points more interest to our customers. This strategy has worked for us and we are seeing good growth in our retail deposits.”

One large private sector bank has indicated it will finance foreign trips for employees who meet internal targets (for liabilities and assets).

According to a senior executive with another large private bank, employees have been asked to contact existing retail customers and persuade them to put more money in their deposit accounts.