In conversation with Ajay Kumar Khanna, SBI, CGM Lucknow
The State Bank of India has a dominant presence in Uttar Pradesh. Kindly shed some light on the SBI business and branch Network in the state.
State Bank of India has a vast network of 2296 branches spread across Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow Circle, which covers 58 out of total 75 districts of UP, has 1697 branches and a Market share of 23.18%. as on Sep’20. We also have 2745 ATM’S and 5532 CSPS spread across the circle, serving even in the remotest part of the State.we have total business of 250,000 crore and customer base of around 3.70 crore out of total population of 15 crore of Lucknow circle.
Lucknow Circle has two Verticals R&DB and FIMM. FIMM vertical is focused on financial inclusion and comprises of agriculture intensive branches. and has a business of Rs 52500 crore whereas R&DB vertical is mainly focused on Retail business in Urban and Semi Urban areas and has a business of RS 196000 crore.
The COVID-19 pandemic has hit all the sectors of economy globally. How has SBI been performing its role as a responsible corporate citizen in UP during the crisis?
As a corporate entity SBI has always shouldered its responsibility towards the national calamities. In U.P. Bank donated Rs. 50 lakhs to CM Relief fund apart from of Rs. 25 lakhs donated by staff members to COVID-19 relief funds. In order to bolster the efforts of our Doctors and Health workers, we have also donated 5 ambulances to U.P. government, 15 ventilators, 2500 PPE Kits, besides Sanitizers and Masks.
The pandemic was particularly tough on the MSME segment in India. What measures did SBI take to provide succour to the sector?
To support the MSME borrower and to ease out the liquidity crunch being faced by the sector as a whole, Bank has come up with a number of relief measures including granting credit limits at liberalized terms (LWC), granting moratorium for interest servicing, deferment of TL instalments. Granting additional funding to tide over the difficult times by way of GECL and CCECL.
Further, in line with RBI directives, 72 branches have been identified as SME intensive branches and also 64 RACCS have been set up across the state to provide excellent services to MSME customers.
SBI, in general, is known as a Mass-banker. Do you also provide special offerings to cater to the needs of affluent/high Net worth Individuals (HNIS) segment?
At SBI, we are not just Massbankers but also the Banker to every Indian. A new vertical “SBI Wealth” meant to serve the fastgrowing affluent segment in the country has been launched. We, at Lucknow circle, have 6 such SBI Wealth Centers, strategically located at Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Bareilly and Gorakhpur regions.
As regards the offerings, we provide an array of products in both money market and capital market areas under our SBI Wealth Platform. Through SBI Wealth a wide range of investment instruments like Bonds, Mutual Funds, etc. across different Asset Classes in varied Asset Management Companies (AMCS) and Portfolio Management Services.
The central government is vigorously pushing for providing doorsteps banking to the customers, especially in urban areas. What has been the experience of the SBI in this regard?
After launching Doorstep Banking Services Pan India by Honorable Finance Minister on 09.09.2020, our Lucknow Circle started it at 8 centers (Lucknow, Kanpur, Bareilly, Moradabad, Varanasi, Prayagraj, Gorakhpur and Jhansi). Under this channel, Customer can avail many services by registering himself at our “Doorstep Banking” app. or Calling at toll free No. 1800111103”
Over all experience of SBI is very encouraging and is being liked by customers. However, we are trying to popularize this channel and are confident that SBI will play a pivotal role under this initiative.
As per directives of Government of India Gold Loans have to be popularize by Public Sector Banks. NBFCS are playing vital role for providing Gold loans to Public. What are the initiatives to attract more & more prospective customer to avail Gold loans from SBI.
SBI Gold Loan is one of the paramount focus areas of our Bank. Under the scheme, SBI offers Gold loan under one roof at a very competitive rate of interest at our 163 Gold point branches. We have also set up a Call Centre where customers can approach us on 24*7 basis through missed call service on virtual mobile No. 8080 934 934. The response to the initiative has been very encouraging, and we are trying to improve our market share in this segment with maximum customer satisfaction.
Success of any organization is measured on the basis of satisfaction of internal and external customers, both. Sir, you have already shown your enthusiasm and efforts for maximum satisfaction of the Bank's external customers. But, what about the efforts or initiatives for your internal customers so that they can feel themselves satisfied and can render best customer service. Human resource is the most valuable asset for us. Overall job satisfaction inspires the employees to render best services and satisfaction to customers. For this purpose, continuous training programs are arranged to align with our business strategy and overall development of them. To enthuse positivity in staff members, many initiatives at local level have also been introduced by us as:
Sakhi a mentorship initiative for new female recruits.
Samadhan an internal troubleshooting option for addressing day to day issues of the employees.
Spandan a very important initiative for our employees to address the transfer required under critical illness.
Another initiative is Samvaad through which I am directly interacting with my staff regarding unresolved issues or their suggestions for improvement.
Digital platforms have become very important in the Economy. How the SBI look forward to be the most preferable Banker for digital services.
Having 200 years of legacy standing and being among the top 50 global Banks, SBI is a firm believer of reform, perform and transform. In India digital economy is flourishing and SBI has been very swift to embrace it. In fact, we are the pioneers in many a digital product. SBI launched its first ever comprehensive digital platform named YONO. Through YONO, customers are enabled to do banking transactions, shopping, ticketing, investment and can also apply for loans. Many other techbased facilities like SB collect/ INB /CINB etc. are provided to our customers. All these initiatives have strengthened our pole position in being the most preferred Banker for safe digital services.
Concurrent with the advancement of information technology, the instances of cybercrimes are also rising rapidly. What steps are being taken by the SBI to curb this menace?
To safeguard the customers’ interest and to mitigate card cloning, an important functionality, YONO cash has been launched through which cash can be withdrawn from ATM without using ATM card. Suspicious transactions are monitored on real time basis and alerts are generated. OTP has been made mandatory for transactions of Rs10000/- and above for cash withdrawal from SBI ATM. Recently, RBI has launched Positive Pay System for cheques, following which SBI has swiftly implemented the process to minimize chances of fraud through cheque.
The journey of digitization doesn’t just stop at technology adoption but also extends to educate and sensitize the customers against any attempt of cyber/online frauds and we are committed to provide safer digital platforms by adding more safety features in our tech base products.
Customer service has been one the areas, which PSBS have traditionally not being associated with. What steps have been taken by your Circle to improve Customer Service?
I can only say that we as well as the industry have moved on from Customer Service to Customer Delight. SBI has introduced a plethora of initiatives to enhance customer delight. Recently we have introduced a call center at our local head office to receive feedback from our customers, the numbers of which are being prominently displayed at our branches. We understand that in service sector, there are instances when we fall short of customer’s expectations, but it is how fast we resolve the grievance, is the true testimony of our services. We have a robust mechanism that emphasizes on timely redressal of the shortcomings if any and for us our customer is our raison d’etre.
Is there any other information you would like to share with the readers?
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