Riding on the booming e-commerce space and increasing adoption of non-cash transactions, the combined share of SBI and its five associate banks in the debit cards space has touched 25 <g data-gr-id="82">per cent</g> in the financial year 2015.
"Debit card spends at points of sale and e-commerce transactions of the State Bank Group crossed Rs 30,000 crore in FY15, an increase of 38.8 <g data-gr-id="73">per cent</g>, which resulted in the group topping the market share at 25 <g data-gr-id="74">per cent</g> of total debit card spends," SBI said in its annual report for FY15.
State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Mysore <g data-gr-id="61">form</g> the SBI Group. As of <g data-gr-id="62">March end</g>, the SBI Group has issued over 20.59 crore debit cards, which is highest in the country.
State Bank of India itself has been actively promoting debit card usage by running various promotional and cashback campaigns.
It has recently launched <g data-gr-id="59">loyalty</g> programme for its customers for doing various banking transactions through debit cards, personal banking, alternate channels like <g data-gr-id="60">internet</g> and mobile banking, among others.
In terms of the number of mobile banking transactions, SBI continues to be <g data-gr-id="51">market</g> leader with a 46 <g data-gr-id="52">per cent</g> share.
The bank said <g data-gr-id="55">introduction</g> of internet-based mobile application 'State Bank Anywhere' has helped it to strengthen its position in the mobile banking space.
"During FY15, 7.71 crore transactions worth Rs 11,662 crore were executed through the mobile banking channel which resulted in a year-on-year income growth of 170 <g data-gr-id="63">per cent</g>," SBI said in the annual report.
Last week, the bank had chalked out a plan to give thrust to its mobile banking channel while exuding confidence that it would soon emerge as a top player in the segment.
"What has happened is that our corporate internet banking was not available on mobile. Now we will soon launch it. And, as soon as this corporate internet banking comes on mobile, we will catch with the number," Bank's chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya had told reporters. SBI in recent past has tied up with many e-commerce players like MakeMyTrip, Amazon and Snapdeal, among others to push its market leadership in debit card space and also promote non-cash transactions.
Meanwhile, State Bank of India has pitched for <g data-gr-id="77">further</g> rate cut by the Reserve Bank to ‘pump up domestic demand’ as inflation is low.
“With ebbing inflationary pressures there may be further scope for monetary stimulus to pump up domestic demand,” SBI Chairperson Arundhati Bhattacharya said.
RBI, in June 2 monetary policy review, cut the repo rate (short-term lending rate) from 7.5 per cent to 7.25, but left all other policy tools like cash reserve requirement unchanged at 4 per cent and Statutory Liquidity Ratio at 21.5 per cent.
It had left the key rate unchanged in the April policy fearing rising inflation.
India is poised to recover moderately with industrial production gaining momentum, Bhattacharya said in a message to shareholders.
“Interestingly, the risk of deficit monsoon seems to be dissipating with more than adequate rainfall in June 2015,” she said. “Looking ahead, <g data-gr-id="75">boost</g> to exports in the backdrop of global economic recovery and improvement in <g data-gr-id="76">domestic</g> investment climate, backed by various initiatives of the government, supports favourable growth outlook,” she added.
She said SBI is taking steps to clamp down on bad loans that include web-based tracking of assets and “regular <g data-gr-id="68">calls” to</g> stressed accounts in retail as well as real estate segments.
In addition, the bank has initiated ‘Dynamic Credit Rating’ review of <g data-gr-id="67">borrowal</g> accounts to capture deterioration in credit quality promptly and to initiate corrective action and facilitate correct pricing of risk.
“During the year (2014-15), the bank has embarked on a number of initiatives to clamp down on NPAs. Some of them are web-based Assets Tracking & Monitoring and regular calls to stressed accounts (SMAs) in Retail segment and Real Estate sector to prevent slippages...,” she said.
The bank’s exposure in <g data-gr-id="66">retail</g> segment, which includes housing, auto, education and personal loans, increased to Rs 2.72 lakh crore, from Rs 2.37 lakh crore at the end of March 2014.
Of the gross NPAs, retail was Rs 2,528 crore at the end of March 2015. It has come down from Rs 3,034 crore at the end of 2013-14.