Thomas Cook partners SBI

The product is a 12-mth recurring deposit that allows SBI's customers to save money and also pre-select a holiday from Thomas Cook India's portal

The country's largest lender State Bank of India on Thursday partnered travel firm Thomas Cook to offer a recurring deposit to the bank's customers to save for their future holidays.

The product is exclusive for online customers.

With the scheme, called Thomas Cook Holiday Savings Account (HSA), a bank customer will be able to pre-select a holiday from the travel company and save for it through a recurring deposit with the bank.

The customer will have to pay 12 instalments and at the end of the period the travel firm will pay the 13th instalment.

"We find that people don't plan their holidays in advance and end up taking last minute loans to finance the same. Also, they could have saved on the cost of the holiday had they booked early. This partnership will encourage customers for a planned savings and an advance booking," bank's Managing Director (National Banking Group) Rajnish Kumar told reporters here today.