And now, portable savings bank accounts on anvil

Close on the heels of mobile number portability, bank account holders may get to transfer their savings bank account numbers across various banks once the common `Know Your Customer' (KYC) for all banks proposed by the Reserve Bank of India takes effect.

The finance ministry is currently working on savings banks account number portability, which will allow a customer to retain his/her account number while changing the bank.

''We want to do it (savings account number portability). Right now there are some technical problems...we have identified them. We will overcome them soon,'' D K Mittal, secretary, financial services in the finance ministry said.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting in the finance ministry, he said banks would have to work on identification code, know your customers (KYC) norms and core banking solution (CBS) for implementing the savings bank account number portability.

The meeting was attended by economic affairs secretary R Gopalan, finance secretary R S Gujral and chief economic adviser Kaushik Basu, among others.

Savings account number portability would help holders of bank accounts to change banks without the need of going through the KYC norms again.

Mittal also said the government would complete capital infusion ion banks by the end of the current fiscal itself. ''We will complete the process of bank recapitalisation by 31 March,'' he said.