Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) has launched a ‘Bank Clinic’ with a purpose to assist customers, impart knowledge and address grievances.
Shri Devidas Tuljapurkar, General Secretary of Maharashtra State Bank Employees Federation and Joint Secretary of AIBEA said that making bank customers financially literate and aware regarding today’s technology has become of the utmost importance. “It aims to provide information, guidance and advice to bank customer,” he said.
Currently, 139 commercial banks handle 300 crore deposit accounts and 40 crore loan accounts through 1,56,951 branches. 98.5 percent of the 300 crore deposit accounts have a balance of less than Rs 5 lakhs.
These banks have 1.26 lakh ATMs connected to the branch and 97,826 ATMs away from the branch, besides 17.36 lakh micro ATMs.
The banks have distributed 96.94 crore debit cards, 10.25 crore credit cards to their account holders and provides services to 88.38 lakh Point of Sales. Apart from these 20 lakhs as Bank Mitras are providing banking services to customers.
“Due to this in the last ten years, there has been an explosion in the number of bank accounts and the banking transactions. This has made very convenient for bank customers to transact anywhere. However, lack of financial literacy, technological information and knowledge has made transactions very complicated for the common man. As a result bank customers have suffered a loss of Rs 4.69 lakh crore in the nine years from January1, 2014 to March 31, 2023,” he said.