‘Our mission is financial inclusion & women’s empowerment’
14 March 2013 12:32 AM GMT
What are the various services provided by Central Bank of India?
Central Bank of India is a pan India bank with 4,230 branches across India and a business worth Rs 3,70,000 crores. So we have the entire range of products and services that would include everything that covers financial inclusion to financing top most corporate of the country. It is my great privilege to tell you that 63% of our branches are in the rural and semi-urban areas and hence we have a predominant presence in the rural sector.
Forty eight districts in the country have been allotted to Central Bank of India to perform as the lead bank, besides this, we also have seven regional rural banks which are operating in various states with over 2,000 branches. The bank also operates 48 training centres in rural cities for training the rural youth and women along with 50 financial literary centres.
You would also be happy to know that we have more than 3,750 villages with a population of over 2,000 that are covered under financial inclusion; in fact we have extended our financial activities to around 9,000 villages both big and small, including some ultra small branches.
Is there a particular criterion for financial inclusion?
For financial inclusion you have to reach the last mile, particular when the country is moving towards Direct Cash Transfer, where you have to make sure that the amount reaches to the poorest of the poor, that too in the smallest of villages, so we are all geared up for it.
I am very happy that out of the pilot 15 districts Central Bank of India has got responsibility of two districts in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and I am proud to inform you that the first village in which Direct Cash Transfer started was Amravati District led by Central Bank of India. Hence I can confidently say that my bank is doing a commendable job at the financial inclusion stage.
Are there any special schemes or services for NRIs?
The biggest concern of an NRI is to send money to their loved ones back home in India for which we have a special service of online remittance. Using which NRIs can send money to their family members from anywhere in the world much faster. To ensure smooth running of this facility, we have collaborated with some service providers from United States of America and the money transfer is done seamlessly electronically.
As the Managing Director of Central Bank of India, what steps have you taken to improve customer relations?
Central Bank of India was the first one to introduce the concept of customer centricity back in the year 2000 called Centralite for Customers and that is the philosophy followed by Central bank of India. I am also proud to say that we are the fourth most trusted bank in the country among the public sector banks which further confirms that we are giving a good service to our customers. At present we cater to more than 4 crore customers through our bank and that in itself says a lot about our customer handling skills.
What is the USP of Central Bank of India?
The biggest USP is the fact that we are a customer oriented bank and have a pan India presence. We strongly believe that we must customise our products and services according to the customer’s need and requirement.
Are you planning to introduce any new saving schemes for your customers?
On the savings front, there is no differential product available on the rate of interest. However, we have a special product for salaried employees called Cent Salary that we have embarked upon as a savings product.
I’d like to take this opportunity and highlight something that we have done in Chhattisgarh for girl students. Around 3 lakh girls get their scholarship via pre-paid cards of Central bank of India. It is like a savings account but none of the girls have a physical account with the bank. How it works is that the cards are pre-loaded with the scholarship money which can be withdrawn from any ATM by the girls. Similarly in Kota, we have a tie-up with Allen Institute and 35,000 cards have been issued to the students which can be re-charged with money from their parents from any Central Bank of India Branch in the country. We also have specialised products for Army, Navy and Air Force personnel called Cent Param through which we offer them concessional rates on loans and other facilities.
Have you introduced any special plans for women?
We have launched a new product called Cent Kalyani, this scheme is specially introduced to offer financial assistance to Women Entrepreneurs for economic pursuits in Industry, Agriculture and Allied Activities, Business or Profession. The bank with network of branches spread throughout the country welcomes women entrepreneurs to avail financial assistance for pursuing vacations to their choice. Women entrepreneurs will be able to get loans up to Rs 1 crore under this scheme and will have a credit guarantee scheme for MSE. Credit guarantee premium which is generally paid by the borrower, we will offer concession to the women towards that.
Central Bank of India is a pan India bank with 4,230 branches across India and a business worth Rs 3,70,000 crores. So we have the entire range of products and services that would include everything that covers financial inclusion to financing top most corporate of the country. It is my great privilege to tell you that 63% of our branches are in the rural and semi-urban areas and hence we have a predominant presence in the rural sector.
Forty eight districts in the country have been allotted to Central Bank of India to perform as the lead bank, besides this, we also have seven regional rural banks which are operating in various states with over 2,000 branches. The bank also operates 48 training centres in rural cities for training the rural youth and women along with 50 financial literary centres.
You would also be happy to know that we have more than 3,750 villages with a population of over 2,000 that are covered under financial inclusion; in fact we have extended our financial activities to around 9,000 villages both big and small, including some ultra small branches.
Is there a particular criterion for financial inclusion?
For financial inclusion you have to reach the last mile, particular when the country is moving towards Direct Cash Transfer, where you have to make sure that the amount reaches to the poorest of the poor, that too in the smallest of villages, so we are all geared up for it.
I am very happy that out of the pilot 15 districts Central Bank of India has got responsibility of two districts in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra and I am proud to inform you that the first village in which Direct Cash Transfer started was Amravati District led by Central Bank of India. Hence I can confidently say that my bank is doing a commendable job at the financial inclusion stage.
Are there any special schemes or services for NRIs?
The biggest concern of an NRI is to send money to their loved ones back home in India for which we have a special service of online remittance. Using which NRIs can send money to their family members from anywhere in the world much faster. To ensure smooth running of this facility, we have collaborated with some service providers from United States of America and the money transfer is done seamlessly electronically.
As the Managing Director of Central Bank of India, what steps have you taken to improve customer relations?
Central Bank of India was the first one to introduce the concept of customer centricity back in the year 2000 called Centralite for Customers and that is the philosophy followed by Central bank of India. I am also proud to say that we are the fourth most trusted bank in the country among the public sector banks which further confirms that we are giving a good service to our customers. At present we cater to more than 4 crore customers through our bank and that in itself says a lot about our customer handling skills.
What is the USP of Central Bank of India?
The biggest USP is the fact that we are a customer oriented bank and have a pan India presence. We strongly believe that we must customise our products and services according to the customer’s need and requirement.
Are you planning to introduce any new saving schemes for your customers?
On the savings front, there is no differential product available on the rate of interest. However, we have a special product for salaried employees called Cent Salary that we have embarked upon as a savings product.
I’d like to take this opportunity and highlight something that we have done in Chhattisgarh for girl students. Around 3 lakh girls get their scholarship via pre-paid cards of Central bank of India. It is like a savings account but none of the girls have a physical account with the bank. How it works is that the cards are pre-loaded with the scholarship money which can be withdrawn from any ATM by the girls. Similarly in Kota, we have a tie-up with Allen Institute and 35,000 cards have been issued to the students which can be re-charged with money from their parents from any Central Bank of India Branch in the country. We also have specialised products for Army, Navy and Air Force personnel called Cent Param through which we offer them concessional rates on loans and other facilities.
Have you introduced any special plans for women?
We have launched a new product called Cent Kalyani, this scheme is specially introduced to offer financial assistance to Women Entrepreneurs for economic pursuits in Industry, Agriculture and Allied Activities, Business or Profession. The bank with network of branches spread throughout the country welcomes women entrepreneurs to avail financial assistance for pursuing vacations to their choice. Women entrepreneurs will be able to get loans up to Rs 1 crore under this scheme and will have a credit guarantee scheme for MSE. Credit guarantee premium which is generally paid by the borrower, we will offer concession to the women towards that.
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