Gayatri Bank
Leverages technology for speed and safety
Jagtial, Telangana based Gayatri Cooperative Urban Bank started functioning comparatively late in FY 2000. However, it has made rapid, all round progress till date. It recorded 32.35% of growth in deposits to reach a level of `6.39 bn by 31 March 2019. The bank had `4.32 bn loans & advances with a remarkable growth of 38.67% for FY201819. The bank had `10.72 bn of business as on 31 March 2019, with 34.83% y/y growth.
Vanamala Srinivas, CEO, reveals: “The CASA deposits of the bank have also grown. We have had total deposits of `6.39 bn as on 31 March 2019, out of which we had `2.61 bn of CASA deposits consisting 40.84% of total deposits. Our bank’s net worth is `547.35 mn with 86.46% of y/y growth.”
The bank added 9 more ATMs, taking the total number to 44. It has 21 branches as of 2018-19. It will add 2 more branches and 4 ATMs by end of the current FY.
DIGITAL SERVICES GROWING
The bank has been focusing to modernize its existing digital services and also to introduce some more customer friendly services. Since 2003, the bank has been providing digital payment services like mobile banking, RTGS, NEFT, ATM services, CTS clearing, etc. Srinivas updates: “We have upgraded its CBS at the end of March 2018 and also introduced some more digital services along with the CBS during the financial year 2018-19. Our bank has upgraded our mobile banking application at the end of financial year 2017-18, which now has more value-added services and also most secured features.”
The mobile banking app has exhaustive features. Important features include PAN and OTP validation for registration, beneficiary addition facility, OTP authentication for every transaction, beneficiary wise maximum amount limits, FD booking, utility bill payments, transaction on/ off facility, QR code capturing facility for payments and beneficiary additions, transactions search option, to get status of cheques enquiry, NEFT facility, IMPS facility and biometric login.
The growth in transactions and amount after modernization is also notable. Srinivas details: “The total number of transactions has increased to 405,187 as of 2018-19, registering a y/y growth of 226.37%. Similarly, the total amount of these transactions has shot up to `998.38 billion in the last FY, registering a y/y growth of 337.86%.”
CUSTOMERS’ COMFORT
Gayatri Cooperative Bank has been sending SMS to the existing customers giving details of facilities, interest rates on deposits and information of launching new products and services regularly. Srinivas elaborates: “While we go for new branches, we collect phone numbers of local people and send regular SMS about our services. So, we are getting good feedback from the customers.” He assures: “When we compare the pre-deployment with post-deployment scenario with banking services on hand, our customers are feeling very comfortable to do transactions on their mobile.”
Free RTGS/NEFT Services.
The bank has waived off the charges on RTGS/NEFT services. Hence it is providing RTGS/NEFT services without any charges. Sri ni v a s c i t e s e ncouraging f i gures: “We have executed `37.66 bn value of RTGS/NEFT transactions during the last financial year.”
TRANSACTIONS ON/OFF
Transactions ON/OFF is the most useful feature in the mobile application of Gayatri Cooperative Bank. The customer can switch on and off his transaction facility through this application. Srinivas educates customers: “If transaction OFF is enabled, the application will not allow performing financial transactions through mobile banking application. Whenever the customer switch ON the transactions, authenticated by OTP, then only, the transactions can be performed.”
Capex, Opex For Digital
Capital expenditure and operational expenditure of Gayatri Cooperative Bank for FY 2018-19 for digital initiatives was `8.66 mn and Rs4 mn respectively. Srinivas shares: “For the current FY 2019-20 for digital initiatives, the capex is pegged at `15.48 mn and opex at `5.5 mn.”
IT VENDORS, TEAM SIZE
The CBS vendor for Gayatri Cooperative Bank is BSG IT Soft Technologies. The bank has its data center at Tata Communication Services, Mumbai. The IT team size of the bank is 17 members. Srinivas explains: “We have an IT team headed by a deputy general manager. Below him is a manager who has a team of 15 persons. This team deals with the operational issues, security issues, etc, and coordinate with the service providers for rectification of the issues.”
Publicity Strategy
Presently Gayatri Cooperative Bank has a customer base of 5.45 lakh. The bank is not present in any social media. Srinivas asserts: “Satisfied customers are our media. Mouth to mouth canvass is a big promotion. We are acquiring daily 300 new customers through this strategy only.”