SBI’s no-frills outlets prove a boon for migrant labour

The government-owned State Bank of India has become the first bank to undertake innovative marketing strategies to bring banking services to under-banked sections of the population through the use of 'business correspondents.

After wooing Hyderabad's urban lower poor with its 'One Rupee Bank' where it takes just that much to open an account, the country's biggest lender has started offering banking services through kiosks set up at kirana or grocery stores and other small businesses, where customers can open an account, deposit cash, withdraw or transfer money, and get a valid receipt for the transaction.

In alliance with Oxigen, a bill-payment, mobile recharge and ticketing systems provider, the bank has opened the first 50 kiosks in Mumbai, including one in Dharavi, as well as 30 in Delhi. SBI will be rolling out 1,000 more such kiosks in Mumbai and another 870 across the state have been opened. Kiosks in Bihar and UP are planned to be operational by October 2010, said sources.

Bank of India has already followed SBI's lead, and other banks are bound to do so sooner rather than later, feel observers.

The SBI kiosks facilitate banking services through six languages. A person can walk into such an outlet and open a no-frills account without the cumbersome proofs of identity and residence required by a normal bank branch; nor is it mandatory to maintain a minimum balance. The shopkeeper will take a photo the person using a webcam and also his or her fingerprints with a biometric device.

''The know-your-customer verification process is diluted here; the regular KYC is so stringent that daily wage earners and migrants get excluded from banking facilities,'' said Pramod Saxena, managing director and chairman at Oxigen. So, if you do not have an address proof such as a letter from the 'mukhiya' (village head) of your native place or your employer, just stating your current place of residence can serve as address proof.