D+AB=R

            If you are residing in a major Indian city, you might have noticed Andhra Banks’ new Outdoor Advertisement campaign.

            The catchy line says D+AB=R, wherein D means (Dreams)+AB means (Andhra Bank)=R means (Reality).

            The print campaign is to promote Andhra Banks personal loans especially Vehicle and Home Loans.

With all Banks and Financial Institutions running Advertisement campaigns to attract quality clientele into its fold, Andhra Banks advertisement is a differentiator.

            In the recent past, Andhra Bank has won ‘Four Awards in a Row’, i.e

1. Best Bank (Mid-size) awarded by Business World
2. Best Bank under CAMEL Ratings awarded by The Analyst-Magazine
3. Best Bank for Quality of Assets awarded by Business Today
4. Banking Excellence Award – awarded by Bankers Club, Kerala

            The Managing Director’s position was vacant for a while and Mr.Rangarajan, took charge as Chairman and Managing Director on 13/12/2013

Cash Retraction in Indian ATM’s finally withdrawn. Collect Cash before leaving the ATM!!!!!!!

            Due to the rising of frauds in India on the cash retraction facility in India, the Indian regulators were looking at various alternatives to minimize such instances.

            A detailed discussion took place in the NFS steering committee meeting held on 07/04/2011. One of the suggestions received was to disable the ATM retraction facility. As this was a new step, a pilot run was conducted on selected ATM’s.

          As expected, not a single complaint on cash retraction was received by member banks. On the basis of the pilot run feedback, NPCI sought RBI’s approval to adopt the disabling of ATM retraction facility across Pan-India ATM’s.

            RBI agreed to the NPCI’s proposal and communicated their acceptance vide Lr.No.DPSS.CO.PD NO1230/02.07.2011/2011-12 dt.09/01/2012.

    

        The initial deadline for the member banks to disable the cash retraction in their respective ATM’s was 31/03/2012. Subsequently, it was extended to August 31^st, 2012.

            With the August31st, 2012 deadline too over, all Banks in India, have disabled the cash retraction facility in their ATM’s.

            This step was disseminated to the bank customers vide SMS’s, Notice Board messages, messages in Statement of Accounts.

            The press too widely reported this new service. Majority of the banks have also highlighted this on their websites eg:- Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, SVC Bank, Indian Overseas Bank. Plus, by the word-of-mouth publicity, the message would have spread across the banking customers.

            The cash disbursement at the ATM’s depends on the model of the particular ATM. In some ATMs, there is a Cash dispenser, wherein the cash falls into the dispenser. In some ATM’s, the money remains at the mouth of the ATM, which the customer has to take it.

Ideally, the cash in all ATMs’ should have a cash dispenser, wherein the cash falls into it and the customer collects it from there.  

What is Cash Retraction?

Safe ePayments – Awareness Campaign

The word ‘Safe ePayments’ is now an official word.

The word i.e ‘Safe ePayments’ has been officially mentioned by India’s leading business newspaper, ‘The Economic Times’.

In the last couple of years, Indian Banks, either Public Sector or Private Sector or Foreign Banks have invested considerably in IT infrastructure to ramp up their ePayments offerings.

The main drivers towards Safe ePayments were Reserve Bank of India and National Payment Company of India.

UIDAI (AADHAR) and the Central/State Governments too are now major motivators to move to Safe ePayments.

The ePayments volumes are on the increase, but a huge untapped potential is there.

The main reason for a slow conversion from traditional payments to ePayments is the lack of a common awareness program aimed at the Indian public.

Individual players have been doing their bit to promote ePayments, but a focused continuous program will do wonders for a surge in volumes.

‘Safe ePayments’ should be considered as a Brand and there must be efforts to promote it as a Brand.

The question now arises is as to who should promote the Brand, i.e the Regulator (RBI/NPCI/Central and State Governments), Banks directly or via IBA or the intermediaries(MasterCard/Visa/Diners etc)