SBI to promote plastic money in smaller towns

To encourage the use of plastic money in two tier towns, State Bank of India has rolled out 'Cash Back Programme' in selected cities.

The bank will launch its 'Cash Back Programme' tomorrow in Chandigarh where the ATM cum the debit card holders will get back the 3 per cent, 4 per cent, 5 per cent and 6 per cent or maximum of Rs 10,000 on the transaction made through the ATM cum debit cards.

General Manager State Bank of India, SS Sharma said the studies conducted by the bank across the country revealed that plastic money instruments were a big hit in the metros.

But a large population in two tier towns is still not used to plastic money. So the bank decided to take the initiative to introduce the plan for one month (June 15 to July 16, 2006) to encompass the potential customers in the upcoming metros.

According to Sharma, there were 202 establishments in Chandigarh including restaurants and utility stores those have points of sale terminals.

In May, the customers of SBI in Chandigarh conducted 4,900 transactions through plastic cards aggregating to Rs 50 lakh.

He said this modern method of payment saves cost of bank. The transaction done through ATM/debit cards costs approximately one third of the manual transaction at bank branch.

He added that the SBI debit card is a PIN based card so ensures more safety. Sharma pointed out that during the one month, they would try to educate the people about the benefits of plastic money.

The bank officials are meeting the owners of Point of Sales, personally to guide them on how to promote the use of payment through debit cards.

It will be launched tomorrow in Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Eranakulam, Indore, Jaipur, Jamshedpur, Lucknow, Pune, Vadodra and Vishakhapatnam for one month.