State Bank of India, the country’s largest Public Sector Bank has launched its 'Green Channel Counter' facility today, State Bank Day, at select branches of the Bank spread across the country as an innovative step towards paperless 'Green Banking' for deposit, withdrawal and remittance transactions in connection with its 204th Birth Day.
This facility would give customers ease and comfort in transacting their business at branches. The customers need not fill up any pay-in slips or draw cheques for depositing or withdrawing money from their accounts, saving paper, and thereby contributing to the concept of 'Green Banking'. This novel facility would be a game changing move in the industry by reducing process time, as duplication in writing/feeding account details and transaction details by the customer as well as the person behind the counter is avoided by simply capturing these details by swiping the SBI Shopping cum ATM Card on a device available at the Single Window Operator's (SWO) counter. At the Green Channel counter, there is a Point of Sale Machine (POS), on which the customer swipes his card. He is then asked by the machine to select the type of transaction, viz. (0) Cash Deposit, (1) Cash Withdrawal and (2) Funds Transfer. Once the customer selects the type of transaction by entering the option, the message ‘Enter the Amount’ is displayed. The customer is asked to confirm the input amount followed by a message “Please Enter the PIN’. When the PIN is entered by the customer, the transaction gets transferred to the terminal of SWO who after entering the denomination of the cash to be paid / received, pays / receives cash and the transaction gets completed.
To start with, three types of transactions have been enabled through this facility viz. Cash Deposits, Cash Withdrawals and Funds Transfer. The transaction amount has been fixed as Rs 40,000/-. This would be the most economical alternate channel for the Bank as the device used to capture the customer transaction data is also inexpensive.
The Green Channel Counter is also an endeavor to offer ease of transactions to senior citizens, especially a large number of pension accountholders who still prefer branch banking. It is the privilege of the oldest Bank in the country to take care of its elder citizens and guide them to the use of plastic cards. The facility started today is on a pilot basis, and would be extended to a larger number of branches with added facilities in due course.