MISSION PROMOTION INTERVIEW

SERIES

Sixth Edition

2020-21

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Dear Readers

Today, I take this privilege to present the sixth edition of “Mission Promotion Interview
Series”. In this edition we have covered the e Circulars and Current affairs pertaining to
Banking/Economy and Finance of the month of September 2019 In addition to it, we
have included detailed write up on Partial Credit Guarantee Scheme for NBFC, RBI
Large Exposure norms, Artificial Intelligence, Crypto Currency, Reserve Bank of India
Prudential Framework for Resolution of Stressed Assets Directions 2019

I hope that, you would have started going through the editions to prepare yourself for
the coming interviews. In these turbulent times, when the world is reeling under the
onslaught of the pandemic COVID 19, the three “P” have become very important. Don’t
Panic, Take Precaution, and Be Positive Please take good care of yourself and your
near and dear ones and take adequate precautions to prevent further spread of this
deadly disease as prevention is always better than Cure.

The first five editions of this series is uploaded on the site “Dare to think
Beyond”, under the tab “Mission Promotion” which can be accessed through
URL http://10.73.0.201.

Leena Singh
(Chief Manager & Faculty)
SBILD Bikaner
20/03/2020

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 Partial Credit Guarantee (PCG) offered by Government of India to Public Sector
Banks (PSBs) for purchasing high-rated pooled assets from financially sound
Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs)/ Housing Finance Companies
(HFCs)
Department of Financial Services (DFS) under Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India vide its notification
No. F. No.1/17/2019-BOA-II dated 10th August 2019 has issued guidelines for purchase by Banks of
high-rated pooled assets from financially sound Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs)/ Housing
Finance Companies (HFCs).

2. Name of the Scheme: ‘Partial Credit Guarantee offered by Government of India (GoI) to Public
Sector Banks (PSBs) for purchasing high-rated pooled assets from financially sound Non-Banking
Financial Companies (NBFCs)/ Housing Finance Companies (HFCs)’, hereinafter referred to as the
‘Scheme’.

3. Validity of the scheme: The window for one-time partial credit guarantee offered by Gol
will remain open till 30th June 2020 or till such date by which Rs.1,00,000 crore assets get
purchased by the Banks, whichever is earlier

4. Eligible NBFCs/HFCs whose Pooled Assets can be purchased:

I..The NBFCs registered with RBI under the Reserve Bank of India Act, excluding those registered as
Micro Finance Institutions and Core Investment Companies.

II. HFCs registered with National Housing Bank (NHB) under the National Housing Bank Act.

III. The CRAR of NBFCs/CAR of HFCs should not be below the regulatory minimum (i.e. 15% for
NBFCs and 12% for HFCs) as on 31.3.2019.

IV. Their net Non-Performing Asset should not be more than 6% as on 31.3.2019.

V. They should have made a net profit in at least one of the last two preceding financial years (is. FY
2017-18 and 2018-19) as per the audited balance sheet of 2 years.

VI. The NBFCs/HFCs should not have been reported under SMA-1 or SMA-2 category by any bank for
their borrowings during the last one year prior to 1.8.2018.

VII. Maximum exposure of the Bank to a single NBFC/ HFC shall not exceed Rs.3000 crore under the
‘Scheme’. For SME pools, maximum tenor of maturity of the pool shall not exceed 15 years and for
home loan pools, maximum tenor of maturity of the pool should not exceed 30 years

5. Eligible Assets: Pool of Assets to be purchased under the ‘Scheme’

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i. Each NBFCs/HFCs can sell up to a maximum of 20% of their standard assets as on 31.3.2019 at
fair value.

ii. The scheme is applicable for the transactions involving transfer of Assets through Direct
Assignment. The underlying assets shall be debt obligations of a homogeneous pool of obligors and
individual asset size in the pool is capped at Rs.5 crore

iii. The assets shall be purchased by banks at fair value. Assets originated up to 31.3.2019 will only
be eligible under this scheme.

iv. Assets to be assigned by NBFCs/ HFCs must be rated by Credit Rating Agencies accredited with
RBI. The originating NBFCs/HFCs can offer credit enhancement for the pooled assets.

v. The pool of assets should have minimum rating of ‘BBB+' or equivalent at fair value prior to the
partial credit guarantee by GoI

vi. Assets should be standard in the books of NBFCs/HFCs on the date of sale. Each account under
the pooled assets should have been fully disbursed and security charge should have been created in
favour of the originating NBFCs/ HFCs.

vii.. NBFC/ HFC would not be required to maintain any capital after the transfer of the pooled assets
to the purchasing PSBs except in the cases where the originating NBFC/ HFC provides credit
enhancement.

6. Assets that cannot be assigned under the scheme

a. Revolving credit facilities.

b. Assets purchased from other entities (viz other NBFCs etc) The assets should have been financed
by them.

c. Assets with bullet repayment of both principal and interest.

7. Service Level Agreements (SLAs)

Operating unit shall sign service level agreements with the originating NBFCs/HFCs for servicing,
including administration of the individual assets. The NBFCs/HFCs have the option to buy back their
assets after a specified period of 12 months as a repurchase transaction, on a right of first refusal
basis. In case of refusal by NBFC to buy-back the pool, Bank will have the right to sell the pool to any
other Financial Institution at outstanding amount/ market rate.

8. SIDBI will perform headroom check for maximum exposure under the scheme and also for
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individual NBFCs and advise the Bank accordingly.

9. Validity of Governments Guarantee

One-time guarantee provided by the GoI on the pooled assets will be valid for 24 months from the
date of purchase and can be invoked on the occurrence of default. The guarantee shall cease earlier
if the Bank sells the pooled assets to the originating NBFC/HFC or any other entity, before the validity
of the guarantee period

10. Guarantee Fees

NBFCs/HFCs will pay a fee equivalent to 0.25% per annum of the fair value of assets being
purchased by the bank under this Scheme to GoI (must be routed through the purchasing bank).

11. Invocation of Guarantee:

The purchasing bank can invoke the GoI guarantee if the interest and/or instalment of principal
remains overdue for a period of more than 90 days during the validity of such guarantee, subject to
the condition that the guarantee is for the first loss up to 10 per cent. The operating unit shall invoke
the guarantee of GoI and raise its claim through the Nodal Branch to SIDBI, subject to the condition
that the same is within the validity period of such guarantee, i.e. 24 months from the date of
purchase and that that the guarantee is for the first loss upto 10%. The guaranteed amount received
from the GoI should be appropriated from the NBFC / HFC outstanding account without any delay

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 RBI LARGE EXPOSURE FRAMEWORK
Large Exposure Limits

Single Counterparty: The sum of all the exposure values of a Bank to a Single Counterparty must
not be more than 20% of Tier 1 capital of Bank.

In exceptional cases, additional 5% of the Tier 1 capital will be made available to Single Counterparty
as follows:
1. Single Counterparty linked to Sovereign, e.g. Central PSUs of Maharatna /Navaratna Status or
SPVs promoted by Central PSUs.
2. The extent to which additional capital (up to a maximum of 5%) will be made available to Single
Counterparty will be approved by the Chairman on the recommendations of the Business Verticals.

Groups of connected Counterparties: The sum of all the exposure values of a Bank to a Groups of
connected Counterparties must not be more than 25% of Tier 1 capital of bank

.Any breach of the above LE limits shall be under exceptional conditions only and shall be reported to
RBI (DBS, CO) immediately and rapidly rectified.

NBFCs: Exposure to single NBFC will be restricted to 20% of Tier 1 capital of bank (vide RBI press
release 2019-2020/365 dated 07.08.2019). However, based on the risk perception, more stringent
exposure limits in respect of certain categories of NBFCs may be considered.

In case of group of connected NBFCs or groups of connected counterparties having NBFCs in the
group will be restricted to 25% of their Tier 1 capital.

Economic Interdependence: If one of the counterparties were to experience financial problems, in

particular funding or repayment difficulties, the other(s), as a result, would also be likely to encounter
funding or repayment difficulties. In this connection, RBI has advised Banks to frame Board approved
policies for determining connectedness using the criteria/ parameter mentioned in RBI Circular.
Identification of possible connected counterparties on the basis of economic interdependence shall be
mandatory in all cases where the sum of all exposures to one individual counterparty exceeds 5% of
the eligible capital base (i.e., Tier 1 Capital), and not in other cases.

In establishing connectedness based on economic interdependence, the following criteria /

parameters (approved by the Board) is to be considered:

RBI’s parameters through which EI to be Parameters for Identification of EI

established
Where 50% or more of one counterparty's gross 50% of gross receipts or expenditure.
receipts or gross expenditures (on an annual
basis) is derived from transactions with the other

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counterparty;

Where one counterparty has fully or partly Guarantee amount is >=50% of Net Worth of the
guaranteed the exposure of the other guarantor.
counterparty, or is liable by other means, and the
exposure is so significant that the guarantor is
likely to default if a claim occurs

Where a significant part of one counterparty’s >=30% of gross receipts.

production/output is sold to another counterparty,
which cannot easily be replaced by other
customers.

When the expected source of funds to repay the 100% funding from source
loans of both counterparties is the same and
neither counterparty has another independent
source of income from which the loan may be
serviced and fully repaid;

Where it is likely that the financial problems of No specific parameter specified; Assessing/
one counterparty would cause difficulties for the Sanctioning authority may decide on a case-to-
other counterparties in terms of full and timely case basis and document the dependency
repayment of liabilities

Where the insolvency or default of one Inter corporate Liabilities or Trade receivables are
counterparty is likely to be associated with the >=50% of Net Worth.
insolvency or default of the other(s)

When two or more counterparties rely on the >=35% of Funding Requirement is met from a
same source for the majority of their funding and, single source (e. g.: NBFC 0
in the event of the common provider’s default, an
alternative provider cannot be found - in this
case, the funding problems of one counterparty
are likely to spread to another due to a one-way
or two-way dependence on the same main
funding source

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Reserve Bank of India Prudential Framework for Resolution of Stressed Assets
Directions 2019 with effect from June 7, 2019
The NEW Prudential Framework provides a system of disincentives in the form of additional
provisioning for delay in implementation of resolution plan or initiation of insolvency proceedings
rather than compelling lenders to initiate insolvency proceedings within a certain timeline

Applicable to
Scheduled commercial banks (excluding regional rural banks), All India term financial institutions,
Small finance banks and Systemically important non-deposit taking non-banking financial companies
(NBFC-ND-SI) and deposit taking non-banking financial companies (NBFC-D) (“NBFCs”).

Not Applicable to
Where the RBI has already issued instructions to banks for initiation of insolvency proceedings against
specific borrowers, restructuring of projects under implementation involving deferment of date of
commencement of commercial operations, Restructuring of loans in the event of a natural calamity
revival and rehabilitation of micro, small and medium enterprise.

Withdrawn/Discontinued
Framework for Revitalizing Distressed Assets, Corporate Debt Restructuring Scheme, Flexible
Structuring of Existing Long-Term Project Loans, Strategic Debt Restructuring Scheme (SDR),
Change in Ownership outside SDR and Scheme for Sustainable Structuring of Stressed Assets (S4A),
Joint Lenders’ Forum has also been discontinued.

Review period
Upon default being reported, the lenders shall undertake prima facie review of the borrower’s account
within 30 (thirty) days from such default to decide on the resolution strategy, including the nature of
the Plan, the approach for implementation of the Plan, etc. The lenders may also choose to initiate
legal proceedings for insolvency or recovery.

Inter-creditor agreement
Any decision taken under the inter-creditor agreement as agreed by: (a) lenders representing 75%
(seventy five percent) of the value of the total outstanding credit facilities (fund based and non- fund
based), and (b) 60% (sixty percent) of lenders in number, shall be binding on all lenders.

Timeline for implementation of the Plan

In respect of accounts where aggregate exposure of any borrower is of Rs. 20 billion and above, the
Review Period shall commence no later than June 7, 2019, if the account is in default on such date.
Further, in case of accounts where the aggregate exposure is Rs. 15 billion and above, but less than
Rs. 20 billion, the Review Period shall commence no later than January 1, 2020. In case of accounts
with aggregate exposure of less than Rs. 15 billion, the reference date for commencement of the
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Review Period shall be announced by the RBI in due course The Plan must be clearly documented by
the concerned lenders and implemented within 180 (one hundred eighty) days from the end of Review
Period.
Conditions for implementation of Plan
Restructuring/ change in ownership
In case of accounts where the aggregate exposure of lenders is Rs. 1 billion and above, if the Plan
involves restructuring/ change in ownership it would require independent credit evaluation (“ICE”) of
the residual debt by credit rating agencies (“CRAs”) specifically authorized by RBI for this purpose.
Accounts with aggregate exposure of Rs. 5 billion and above will require 2 (two) ICEs and the other
accounts will require 1 (one) ICE. Plans which receive a credit opinion of RP4 or better will be
considered for implementation.

Continuing credit exposure

Nature of Plan Conditions
Plans not involving restructuring/ change in Borrower is not in default with any of the lenders
ownership as on 180th (one hundred eightieth) day from the
end of the Review Period (or 210th day from date
of default). Any subsequent default (after the
above period) shall be treated as a fresh default,
resulting in a fresh review.

Plans involving restructuring/change in Completion of all necessary documentation,

ownership including execution of necessary agreements
between the lenders and the borrower, creation and
perfection of security are completed by all lenders, in
line with the Plan being implemented- New capital
structure and/ or changes in the terms of conditions
of the existing loans, get duly reflected in the books
of all the lenders and the borrower. Borrower is not
in default with any of the lenders.

Plan involving lenders exiting the exposure by Upon extinguishment of the entire exposure to the
assigning the exposures to a third party borrower.

Plan involving recovery action Upon extinguishment of the entire exposure to the
borrower

Additional provisioning for delay in implementation of Plan

All lenders are required to make additional provisions in the following cases:
a) if a viable Plan is not implemented within the stipulated timelines; or

b) Where the lenders have initiated recovery proceedings (unless the recovery proceedings are fully
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completed).

In case the implementation of a Plan is delayed beyond 180 (one hundred eighty) days from the end
of Review Period, then lenders are required to do an additional provisioning of 20% (twenty percent)
of the total outstanding in respect of the debt and in case it is delayed beyond 365 (three hundred
sixty five) days from the commencement of the Review Period, then an additional provisioning of 15%
(fifteen percent) of the total outstanding in respect of the debt (i.e. in total an additional provisioning of
35% (thirty five percent)). The additional provisions shall be made by all lenders having exposure to
such borrower, over and above the higher of provisions already held or provisions required to be
made as per the asset classification status of the borrower account, subject to the total provisions held
being capped at 100% (one hundred percent) of the total outstanding. It may be noted that additional
provisioning shall also be required to be made in cases where lenders have initiated recovery
proceedings, but such proceedings have not been fully completed.

Reversal of the additional provisioning

Nature Conditions
Plans involving only payment of overdues by the Borrower is not in default for at least 6 (six)
borrower months from the date of clearing all overdues with
all the lenders.

Plans involving restructuring/ change in Upon implementation of the Plan.

ownership outside the IBC

Where resolution is pursued under the IBC - Half of the additional provisions may be
reversed on filing of insolvency application.

- Remaining half of the additional provisions may

be reversed upon admission of application for
commencement of the corporate insolvency
resolution process under the IBC.

Where assignment of debt/ recovery proceedings Upon completion of the assignment of debt/
is initiated recovery

Prudential Norms
Asset classification
In the event of restructuring, accounts classified as ‘standard’ are required to be downgraded to ‘sub-
standard’ assets. Non-performing assets (“NPA”) would continue to have the same asset classification
as prior to restructuring. The asset classification, in both cases, will continue to be governed by the
ageing criteria as per extant asset classification norms.

Conditions for upgrade

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The ‘standard’ assets which are classified as NPAs and NPAs which are retained in the same
category on restructuring can only be upgraded when all outstanding facilities demonstrate
satisfactory performance during the period from the date of implementation of the Plan up to the date
by which at least 10% (ten percent) of the sum of outstanding principal debt as per the Plan and
interest capitalization sanctioned as part of the restructuring, if any, is repaid (“Monitoring Period”).
In case of accounts having aggregate exposure of Rs. 1 billion and above, the credit facilities of the
borrower are additionally required to obtain investment grade rating (i.e. BBB- or better) by CRAs.
Accounts with aggregate exposure of Rs. 5 billion and above will need to obtain two ratings and other
accounts will require one rating.
Lenders are required to make additional provisions of 15% (fifteen percent) at the end of the Review
Period, for accounts wherein the borrower fails to demonstrate satisfactory performance during the
Monitoring Period. Any default by a borrower in any of the credit facilities with any of the lenders
subsequent to upgrade in asset classification as above but before the end of the specified period, will
require a fresh Plan to be implemented, along with an additional provision of 15% (fifteen percent) at
the end of the Review Period

Additional finance and interim finance

Additional finance granted to a borrower under the Plan (including any resolution plan approved under
the IBC) will be treated as a ‘standard’ asset during the Monitoring Period under the approved Plan.
However, this would be subject to the account performing satisfactorily during the Monitoring Period. If
the account fails to demonstrate satisfactory performance during the Monitoring Period or does not
qualify for upgradation at the end of the Monitoring Period, such additional finance granted will be
placed in the asset classification category as the restructured debt.

Similarly, any interim finance extended by the lenders to debtors undergoing insolvency proceedings
under the IBC may be treated as a ‘standard’ asset during the insolvency resolution process period.
During this period, asset classification and provisioning for the interim finance shall be governed by
the Master Circular on Prudential norms on Income Recognition, Asset Classification and Provisioning
pertaining to Advances dated July 1, 2015, as may be amended from time to time. Subsequently,
upon approval of the resolution plan by the adjudicating authority, treatment of such interim finance
shall be as per the norms applicable to additional finance.

Income recognition
In respect of restructured accounts classified as ‘standard’ assets, the interest income can be
recognized on accrual basis and in respect of restructured accounts classified as NPAs, the interest
income will be recognized on cash basis. However, in case of accounts where additional finance is
provided, if the pre-restructuring facilities were already classified as NPA, the interest income will be
recognized only on cash basis unless the restructuring is accompanied by change of ownership.

Conversion of principal into debt/ equity and unpaid interest into FITL, debt or equity
instruments
Any fresh securities issued under the Plan to the lenders, as a result of restructuring, will be held by

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the lenders in lieu of a portion of the pre-restructured exposure and the funded interest term loan
(“FITL”), debt and equity instruments created by conversion of part of principal or unpaid interest are
required to be placed in the same asset classification category in which the restructured advance has
been classified. The manner in which such instruments acquired by the lenders under the Plan shall
be valued has been provided in the Prudential Framework

Change in ownership
Subject to the conditions mentioned in the Prudential Framework, in case of a change in the
ownership of the borrower entity, the credit facilities of the concerned borrowing entities may be
continued/ upgraded as 'standard’ after the change in ownership is implemented, either under the IBC
or under the Prudential Framework. Any change in ownership under the Prudential Framework will
have to comply with the provisions of section 29A of the IBC. Additionally, it has also been stipulated
that the new promoter should not be a person/ entity from the existing promoter group (including as
defined under the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure
Requirements) Regulations, 2018). Further, the new promoter shall acquire at least 26% (twenty six
percent) of the paid-up equity capital as well as voting rights of the borrower entity, be the single
largest shareholder

Cases of frauds/ wilful defaulters

Borrowers who have committed frauds/ malfeasance/ willful default will be ineligible for restructuring.
However, in cases where the existing promoters are replaced by new promoters, and the borrower
company is totally delinked from such erstwhile promoters/ management, lenders may take a view on
restructuring such accounts based on their viability, without prejudice to the continuance of any
criminal action against the erstwhile promoters/ management

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 Future of Artificial Intelligence in Banks

The term Artificial Intelligence (AI) was coined in 1956 by John Mc Carthy, an American computer and
cognitive scientist. AI in simplest terms refers to the intelligence demonstrated by machines and the
term is also used when a machine displays cognitive functions normally associated with human minds
such as learning and problem solving
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a field of computer science that tries to recreate human intelligence in
machines. In lay man’s terms, AI tries to perform tasks which at the moment humans can do easily but
machines cannot. For example, Microsoft Word cannot write an essay by itself. But it is possible in
future to create an algorithm that generates an essay on any topic of choice. Such an algorithm will be
AI driven, replicating the human creativity. AI encompasses many sub-fields such as machine
learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), data mining, automated reasoning, computer vision
and robotics
AI can be interpreted in two ways depending upon the level of intelligence achieved. General AI (G-AI)
refers to that stage of AI wherein a machine can perform all the tasks that humans can including
complex ethical decision making. As against G-AI, the narrow AI (NAI) is that level of AI wherein a
machine performs a well-defined task, to achieve a well-defined output with minimal human interface.
Thus a machine driven process for loan sanction falls within the domain of N-AI. is not a new field., N-
AI has become commercially viable because of 1) explosion in data due to rapid adoption of digital
technology, internet and mobile phones (often called the big data) and 2) sustained improvement in
computing power, allowing faster churning of data to derive new insights.

The commercial deployment of AI is expected to happen in four stages namely – the internet AI,
business AI, perception AI and autonomous AI. The internet AI utilises user’s behavioural data to
Optimize /customize user experience for various web-based applications (such as payment apps).The
business AI, on the other hand, is restricted to business applications in manufacturing and services by
utilising the vast in-house structured data amassed using the enterprise management software.
Business AI will data mine the in-house data to optimise business process. The perception AI imparts
machine the ability to see and hear. The face recognition technology, internet of things (IoT) and NLP
fall under this wave. Lastly, the autonomous AI will alter the landscape of the physical world. Machines
(e.g. self-driving cars, drones and advance industrial robots) will perform task autonomously without
human intervention.

Technology adoption in banking

Widespread use of smart phones, and advancement in computing and storage technology such as the
clouds has raised hopes of a paradigm shift in use of technology in banking, particularly through
application of AI. In India, the technological transformation of banking started during First Generation
Banking Reforms in 1993. This transformation was enabled by implementation of core banking
solutions in 2000, followed by deployment of ATM machines and launch of internet banking. By 2009,
internet access through mobiles devices outpaced the fixed line connection. In response, banks
diverted their attention to financial inclusion through mobile banking. Demonetization gave a further
impetus to use of technology in payments domain and banks have invested resources in payment
gateways, POS, chip based ATM/Credit cards and online platforms for faster loan processing.
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Digitisation of front offices and internet/mobile banking has created a sizable internal database for
Indian banks. The enterprise management systems and customer relationship management systems
of the banks capture well-structured data on both voluntary (i.e. data mobility) and autonomous (i.e.
data motility) aspects of internal process; customer preferences and inter-temporal behaviour. Using
distributed data base management techniques, this internal data can be mapped to other externally
available datasets for better market intelligence and product development.

Emerging uses of AI in banking

Banking has already embraced internet AI and business AI. The perception AI (such as facial and
voice recognition) and autonomous AI technologies are in initial stages of development and can see
exploitation in next 10 years.
Credit appraisal
Banks in India have been advised from time to time to upgrade their methods of credit appraisal to
contain the risk of NPAs. Using deep learning, AI can be used for credit appraisal. Retail loans, credit
cards and MSME which are generally managed at portfolio level (as against large corporate), AI
technique has evolved at an advanced level to generate better classification and early warning. Ability
to capture highly non-linear relationships is a major plus point of deep learning over traditional
scoring methods. However, whether AI can be used for credit appraisal for large corporates is not very
clear.
Anomaly detection
Anomaly detection is the process of finding patterns in a dataset whose behaviour is not normal or
expected. This general term subsumes statistical solution for problems such as banking frauds, money
laundering; network intrusion such as cyber threats and data theft, internal audits supports and
compliance. The use of AI can reduce the detection time for frauds and money laundering, allow
counter defense for cyber-attacks and data thefts. Use of NLP and text mining techniques can aid in
advance preparation for audits and checking regulatory compliance e.g. KYC.

Treasury & Risk management:

Deployment of AI in treasury and risk management function is perhaps the most intuitive and radically
achievable. The availability of high quality internal and external data is the strongest point in favour
of AI in this domain. Machine learning can be used to dynamically optimise the risk weighted assets of
the banks. Automation of back testing of models for market, credit and operational risk is also
possible. Techniques of predictive analysis can be used by the treasury for taking sharp market calls.
In portfolio management, AI and machine learning tools are being used to identify new signals on
price movements. For large banks, AI techniques can help in faster portfolio adjustments such as
duration reduction, while ensuring minimum impact costs due to large market position.

Branch/ATM network optimization

The flow of data from branches and ATM network of the banks provides a rich test bed for
experimenting with AI techniques. Predictive modeling techniques can be deployed to forecast
footfalls at bank ATM on a dynamic basis. The same ATM flow data when mapped with individual
behaviour data can create highly customized service to forewarn specific customers about ATM
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outages. Branch footfall data collected using computer vision technology along with spatial data, such
as remote sensing data of ISRO, can be used to optimise the branch network in terms of accessibility
from residential areas, industrial areas etc.

Customer servicing
As noted above, although the use of AI in front offices is currently limited, application such as chatbots
are being tested. Chatbots are virtual assistants that help customers transact or solve problems.
These automated programmes use NLP to interact with clients in natural language (by text or voice),
and use machine learning algorithms to improve over time. Chatbots are being introduced by a range
of financial services firms, often in their mobile apps or social media and same can also be made
available through ATMs and kiosks. While many are still in the trial phase, there is potential for growth
as chatbots gain popularity among the younger generations, and become more sophisticated.
However, due to lack of quality data on India’s diverse languages, challenges exist for the Indian
banking sector to fully use this AI technology.

Discussions and way forward

AI will emerge as a General Purpose Technology having far reaching consequences for all the sectors
of the economy. Thus any exploration into future of AI in banking must not stop at the first stage alone.
The retirement of large cohort of workforce in next five years creates room for incremental
investments in AI related technology to boost productivity. A government policy which encourages
leveraging AI not only for economic growth, but also for social inclusion is also an enabling factor. But
at the same time, absence of a home grown AI ecosystem limits scope for AI adoption in banks. With
hardly any Indian presence in cloud business or proven AI technology for Indian conditions, banks run
the risk of third party dependency in respect of proprietary AI algorithms. In conclusion, future
adoption of AI in Indian banking will not just be strategic decision but a fine balancing act between
customer expectations, competition, privacy laws and cultural values.

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 Crypto Currencies and the Banking System

A cryptocurrency is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange that uses

cryptography to secure its transactions, to control the creation of additional units, and to verify the
transfer of assets. Crypto currencies cannot be printed or minted, they can only be generated by
miners through cryptographic processes and the complexity of mining process limits the amount of
currency that could be created e.g. there could be only 21 million Bit coins that can be created.
Cryptocurrency funds are locked in a public key cryptography system, almost impossible to break into
even with sophisticated hardware and software. Every single transaction that ever happened in the
network is stored in a huge version of a general ledger, called the block chain. There are more than
1500 crypto currencies in circulation, however the more popular ones are Bit coin, Ethereum,
Litecoin, Ripple, Dash, Monero, Neo, etc

Currently, virtual currencies (VCs),. and the block chain that underpins them, have found wide media
coverage, due to the perceived promise they hold to be the fundamentally disruptive innovations of
the 21st century. They have also received attention due to the concerns around their alleged misuse
for money laundering/terrorist financing. The underlying blockchain technology, which has attracted
much less attention, holds the potential to produce fundamental changes to transform the world of
business – reminiscent of how the internet changed the dissemination of information. ‘The
innovations/use cases surrounding the VCs are still unraveling and are yet to withstand the trial of
time. Most jurisdictions are in wait and watch mode, neither explicitly prohibiting/banning nor explicitly
recognising these. Even among the jurisdictions that have recognized VCs legally, there seems to be
lack of unanimity in treating them as asset/security/currency.

How is Cryptocurrency different from Central Bank Currency?

Unlike fiat money issued by central banks/authorities, cryptocurrency has limited acceptability in
terms of its utility as a digital medium of exchange. It’s a peer-to-peer (private) digital system of
payment with the transactions recorded in a public ledger using its own unit of account. One of the
most striking features of cryptocurrency is that it weeds out the need for a trusted third party/central
authority such as a governmental agency. The rate at which such units are created is defined
beforehand and is publicly known unlike the fiat currencies, where the government /central bank
controls the supply. Cryptoassets ,however, do not meet, or only partially satisfy, the following key
functions of money:

a)Lack of intrinsic value as well as the sharp fluctuations in their value imply that they cannot be used
as a reliable store of value.

b) As a means of payment/medium of exchange, crypto-assets are far less effective than fiat
currencies, in that (i) markedly higher price volatility makes it hard to be used as a means of
payment; (ii) high transaction costs entailed in crypto transactions make it unviable for retail
payments; and (iii) reimbursement in the event of fraud is not available/ensured, and (iv) very
restricted acceptability by merchants.
16
c) Given the unusually high volatility observed in top ten crypto currencies, very few prices are
expressed using them.

In view of the above, crypto currencies are viewed not as money, but as crypto assets – a financial
asset. Crypto assets do not have attributes of money and are unlikely to compete with legal tender.
They are unlikely to be money in the future as well
Challenges
Cryptocurrencies are exhibited as the biggest innovation of the century, however, they also have the
same problems as classic e-payment systems. The key risks can be summarised as:

a) Trading platforms have been subject to rising cyber-attacks, compromising security. The issues
that plague the digital wallets in today’s payment ecosystem are also applicable to cryptocurrencies –
they too are vulnerable to phishing attacks, user address error, hacking, stealing of cryptographic
keys etc. According to the Ernst & Young report, of the US$ 3.7 billion raised globally via initial coin
offerings (ICO), more than 10% or US$ 400 million were lost as a result of attacks.

b) Customer/investor protection issue assumes greater importance in developing countries where

financial literacy is low, mis-selling is rampant and retail investors tend to follow the herd behavior
without fully understanding the risks. As such, there is no established framework for recourse to
customer problems/ disputes/ charge backs etc.

c) Can be used to disguise (i) the illicit origin or sanctioned destination of funds/tax evasion;(ii)
circumvent capital controls and international sanctions; (iii) absence of information of counterparties
in such peer-to-peer anonymous/pseudonymous systems could also subject the users to
unintentional breaches of Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism
(AML/CFT) laws.

d)The crypto being highly speculative assets, financial stability concerns may arise if the size gathers
a critical mass.. Without any sovereign backing and any regulatory authority, its value is going to be
subject to vagaries of speculation and demand supply dynamics.
.
e) Since virtual currencies enable quick transfers of huge amounts of money, regardless of the
location of the payer and the payee, the threshold of permissible cross-border transactions could be
difficult to enforce.

f) Another major challenge is the technical scalability - Bitcoin network can handle 3-5 transactions
per second, while the interbank Visa system is estimated to handle 2,500. Moreover, validating a
transaction takes around 10 minutes which is too large to be really useful in a practical scenario
where hundreds of thousands of transactions may be required to be validated simultaneously.

17
.
g) The cost of mining (verifying transactions) in terms of electricity consumption and carbon dioxide
emission burden (both on account of production of electricity and computing equipment)will become
economically and environmentally unsustainable if transaction volumes keep growing or, demand for
cryptocurrencies increases

h) Presently, lopsided investment also poses a challenge as market funding has been predominantly
concentrated in developing crypto currency ecosystem, while other applications involving the
blockchain technology which could have immense economic/commercial uses, have not attracted
much investment. For instance, there has been very little funding in applications such as intra-bank
payments, smart contracts, securities and settlements. In order to harness this technology, regulation
should develop a conducive architecture for the development of these applications, which will also
build trust and reduce uncertainty. Governance issue reside at the heart of the growth of the industry
and the key evolving challenges are

Should central banks create their own e-currencies?

.A central bank digital currency (CBDC) would allow consumers to hold central bank liabilities in
digital form. The first and foremost benefit that one can think of is that it would be a nearly costless
medium of exchange where there are no printing costs involved. Central bank e-currencies would
discourage tax evasion, money laundering, and other illegal activities that are made easier by paper
currency. This benefit is important for developing economies where a large fraction of economic
activity is conducted using cash, and incidence of tax evasion is very high. On the flip side, it is too
early to comment on the cyber resilience of e-currencies. As far as emerging countries are
concerned, the decision of creating digital currencies is contingent on evolution of high speed
networks and electronic devices and their safety aspects. Governance and risk management and
technical issues of the technology are major challenges..If households and firms were given access
to CBDC accounts at the central bank, banks’ dominant role as providers of payment services would
be challenged. In effect, retail payments (and securities transactions) would no longer have to be
mediated by banks, as the funds would be transferred directly from one party’s CBDC account to
another’s. A disintermediated payment system could gradually replace the current centralised system
and its associated credit and liquidity risks.

The main benefit to CBDC account holders would be access to cheap and fast peer-to peer
transactions. Residents will be able to directly own central bank money in a blockchain system,
bypassing commercial banks. Central banks will not just be bankers to banks but also bankers to
citizens

Views on CBDCs are more favourable in countries with low demand for physical currencies, with
people preferring to use electronic modes of payment

Nevertheless, given the disadvantages, and the mistrust with existing crypto-currencies, many central

18
banks around the world have stepped up efforts towards developing digital versions of their fiat
currency to leverage the benefits of the underlying blockchain technology. Early experiments have
not concluded that DLT based CBDC offers significant benefits from a payments perspective.
However, a deeper research/analysis on CBDC is required before brushing aside the idea.

While there are significant limitations of VCs in replacing physical currency, the block chain/DLT
underlying their design can be used in areas such as international trade, trade finance, cross-border
remittance transfers characterised by high transaction fee, and in plugging leakages in social benefit
transfers in low income countries. More importantly, in developing countries like India, it can be used
in a variety of economic applications such as creating digital land records, financial inclusion, and
benefit transfer. `However, significant challenges remain in terms of overcoming poor internet
connectivity, higher cost of transactions, deficits in electricity supply andLow levels of financial
literacy.
:

19
Business, Economy & Banking Current Affairs- September
2019
Key highlights of the 3rd bi-monthly monetary policy
The 3rd bi-monthly monetary policy meeting was held on 7th August 2019. The key points of the meet
were:
• Repo rate reduced by 35 bps to 5.4%

• Reverse repo rate under the LAF revised to 5.15%

• Marginal standing facility (MSF) rate and Bank rate revised to 5.65%

24x7 NEFT, more billers on BBPS and payments fraud registry on the cards
The Reserve Bank of India announced the conversion of the National Electronic Funds Transfer
(NEFT) channel into a 24 x 7 service and on-tap participation in some retail payment systems, among
other measures to build upon the payments ecosystem in the country. The Central Bank has also
decided to expand biller categories for Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS). The BBPS, an
interoperable platform for repetitive bill payments, currently covers five segments - Direct-to - Home
(DTH), electricity, gas, telecom and water bills. In order to benefit from diversification of risk as also to
encourage innovation and competition, RBI has decided to offer on-tap authorisation to entities
desirous to provide platforms for the Bharat Bill Payment Operating Unit (BBPOU), the Trade
Receivables Discounting System (TReDS) and white Label ATMs (WLAs). There are eight operators
in the field of BBPOU, three in TReDS and eight non-banks as WLAO. The RBI also announced the
creation of central payments fraud information registry. At present, there is a mechanism in place for
banks to report all banking frauds to the Central Fraud Monitoring Cell of RBI.

RBI takes measures to boost credit flow to NBFC Sector

To encourage banks to lend to Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), the Reserve Bank of India
has upped the single NBFC exposure limit for banks. Further, it allowed loans given by banks to
NBFCs for on-lending to agriculture, micro and small enterprises (MSEs) and housing to be classified
as priority sector lending (PSL). To harmonise the counter-party exposure limit to single NBFC with
that of the general limit, the RBI has decided to raise a bank’s exposure limit to a single NBFC to 20
percent of Tier-I capital of the bank from 15 percent now. The Central Bank has allowed (subject to
certain conditions) bank lending to registered NBFCs (other than microfinance Institutions) for on-
lending to agriculture (investment credit) up to Rs. 10 lakh; Micro and small enterprises upto ` 20 lakh
and housing up to Rs. 20 lakh per borrower (up from Rs. 10 lakh at present) to be classified as PSL.

RBI lowers risk weight on consumer credit

To encourage the flow of credit to consumers, the Reserve Bank of India has reduced the risk weight
on unsecured consumer credit, including personal loans, to 100% from 125% earlier. This move will

20
help banks with capital conservation. It will help free up capital providing more room for banks to lend
RBI tweaks rules on ATM transactions
ATM transactions which fail on account of technical reasons like hardware, software, communication
issues and non-availability of currency notes cannot be counted as valid transactions for the
customer, according to Reserve Bank of India. This means that such transactions will not be included
in the number of free ATM transactions. No charges can be levied on transaction which fail on
account of technical reasons and other declines ascribable directly / wholly to the bank/service
provider; invalid PIN/validations etc.
RBI tightens norms for directors on PSB boards
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has tightened the fit-and-proper criteria for directors on the boards
of state run banks, and said the Centre’s nominee director shall not be part of the Nomination and
Remuneration Committee (NRC). The revised criteria also, for the first time laid down an exhaustive
list for the disqualification of directors. The terms with regard to the NRC and the manner of the
appointment of directors have been aligned with the practice in private banks, the recommendations
made by the Banks Board Bureau and with the provisions in the Companies Act.

Regulatory Sandbox: RBI eases net worth, regulatory norms

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) released the final ‘enabling framework for regulatory sandbox’. In its
final guidelines for a Regulatory Sandbox (RS) for fintech firms, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
relaxed the minimum net worth requirement for applicants to `25 lakh from `50 lakh earlier, while also
specifying that it would ease regulatory requirements with respect to liquidity, board composition,
management experience, financial soundness and track record. In addition, banks and financial
institutions constituted under a statute in India would be eligible to apply. The target applicants for
entry to the Regulatory Sandbox are fintech companies, including start-ups, banks, financial
institutions and any other company partnering with or providing support to financial services
businesses. The notice period for a fintech to exit the RS has increased to one month from one week
earlier. Sandbox entities shall be required to take liability or indemnity insurance of an adequate
amount and period to safeguard the interest of the customers. The policy cover shall begin with the
start of testing stage and end three months after exit of the sand box entity from the RS. The RS shall
be based on thematic cohorts focusing on financial inclusion, payments and lending and digital KYC
among other things The cohorts may run for varying time periods but should ordinarily be completed
within six months. The indicative list of products, services and technologies where the RS could be
applicable includes retail payments, money transfer services, market place lending, mobile
technology applications, data analytics and application program interface (API) services.

Regulatory Sandbox (RS)

A regulatory sandbox (RS) refers to live testing of new products or services in a controlled/test
regulatory environment for which regulators may (or may not) permit certain regulatory relaxations for
the limited purpose of the testing. The RS allows the regulator, the innovators, the financial service
providers (as potential deployers of the technology) and the customers (as final users) to conduct
field tests to collect evidence on the benefits and risks of new financial innovations, while carefully

21
monitoring and containing their risks. It can provide a structured avenue for the regulator to engage
with the ecosystem and to develop innovation-enabling or innovation-responsive regulations that
facilitate delivery of relevant, low-cost financial products
Hurdle Rate
A hurdle rate is the minimum rate of return on a project or investment required by a manager or
investor. It describes the appropriate compensation for the level of risk present—riskier projects
generally have higher hurdle rates than those with less risk. In order to determine the rate, risks, cost
of capital, returns for similar investments, and anything else that may affect the investment must be
taken into consideration.

22
 Gist of Important e Circulars issued during September 2019
Circular No.: NBG/PBU/LIMA-FORMS/15/2019 -20 Date: Mon 30 Sep 2019
APPLICATION FORM FOR SETTLEMENT OF CLAIMS IN DECEASED
CONSTITUENTS ACCOUNTS
Department of Financial Services (DFS), Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India, under EASE Reforms on
‘Banking for Customer Convenience’ advised devising Common Form for Settlement of Claims in
Deceased Constituents Accounts applicable for all Public Sector Banks. All branches should use the
revised Claim Form w.e.f. 01/10/2019 for Settlement of claims in respect of Deceased Constituents
Accounts for payment of balances in Accounts, articles in Safe Deposit Locker and Safe Custody in
cases other than Nomination or Joint Account with Survivor clause.

Circular No.: NBG/PBBU/NRI-DEPOSIT/23/2019 – 20 Date: Thu 26 Sep 2019

NRI SERVICES FCNR (B) AND RFC DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS OPENING / RENEWAL
OF ACCOUNTS WITH BACK VALUE DATE – APPLICABLE INTEREST RATES
As per guidelines issued by RBI, whenever FCNR (B) or RFC deposit accounts are opened / renewed
with permissible back value date effect, the applicable rate of interest would be lower of the following
two:
i. Interest rate for the said term / period prevailing as on the effective account opening date.

ii. Interest rate as on the date of actual account opening / renewal.

The above validations have already been incorporated in CBS for opening / renewing of FCNR (B) or
RFC account with back value date.
.
Circular No.: CCO/CPPD-ADV/93/2019 – 20 Date: Thu 26 Sep 2019
Migration of NPA/AUCA accounts to SARG with outstanding of Rs. 20 lakhs
and above only
It has, therefore, been decided that the NPA / AUCA accounts with outstanding of Rs. 20 lakhs and
above, will only be migrated to SARG. However, the cases which have already been admitted / filed
in DRT shall remain with SARG. The NPA / AUCA accounts which have been migrated to SARG but
not admitted / filed in DRT due to above reason (s), shall be migrated back to the original branch to
which the account(s) pertained i.e. the branch that had migrated the account(s) to SARG. The
(original) branch which is getting their NPA / AUCA account (s) back from SARG must take
appropriate/ necessary legal recourse, on time, at their end so as to protect the interest of the bank.

Pecuniary jurisdiction: Original Application (O.A.) in DRT is to be filed where the total amount of
debt due to the Bank is Rs 20 lacs or more. NPAs with outstanding of Rs. 20 Lakhs and less than
Rs.10 Crores shall be migrated to SAMBs .
.
Circular No.: NBG/PBU/AL-AUTOLOAN/19/2019 – 20 Date: Tue 24 Sep 2019
PERSONAL BANKING ADVANCES: AUTO LOANS CIC SCORE OF -1:
23
MODIFICATIONS
The competent authority has approved to change the deviation approval from DGM (B&O) to RM
(RBO) in cases of -1 CIC score based on the stipulated conditions as referred below :

a) Customer should have bank account for more than 12 months.

b) Monthly single credit of Rs. 25000/- in the account other than system credit for last 12 months and
Income tax returns are electronically filed and status of Acknowledgement receipt (ITR-V) verified
online.
c) Verification of the business/profession continuity is done through online verification of
TAN/TIN/GSTIN Number, which contains Date of Registration and Address.

d) Pre-sanction inspection is to be carried out by Bank official only. The Interest rate for these
categories of customers is as under:

Term of the Loan 3-5 YEARS ABOVE 5 YEARS

Rate of Interest 1.45 + 1 Year MCLR 1.55 + 1 Year MCLR

The instruction relating to financing SBI car loan to salary package customers of SBI with -1 CIC
score was relaxed vide e circular No.: NBG/PBU/AL-AUTOLOAN/9/2019 –20 dated 27.06.2019 and
the sanctioning authority was allowed to approve the deviation after considering the stipulated
conditions above. Hence, it has been decided that in case of -1 CIC score category salary package
customers of SBI customers to link interest band to their respective RSM score.

Circular No.: IMA/IMA-RFIA/3/2019 – 20 Date: Tue 24 Sep 2019

Risk Focused Internal Audit-Domestic Branches & RACPCs:
Introduction of Trigger based audits with RFIA- Off-Site audit rating
It has been decided, to modify the current process of rule-based periodicity of audits by trigger-based
audits and to introduce the system of Trigger based audits with RFIA-Offsite audit rating, in select
branches and RACPCs, as per the processes detailed in the following paragraphs.
Eligibility of domestic branches/RACPCS in the R&DB vertical for Trigger Based Audit with
RFIA- Offsite Audit Rating

a. Domestic Branches:
Branches in the R&DB vertical which are categorized as ‘Normal’ and ‘Acceptable’ in the Outlier
Module of RADAR will only be eligible for Trigger based audit with RFIA Offsite Audit rating subject to
the following:

• NPA percentage of the branch as on 31st March 2019 should be below 2 (this threshold would
be revised annually. NPA% will be calculated by including the accounts migrated to SARG and
written off during the year).

24
 • Quick mortality of loans being at the lowest bucket of the outlier module.

• Branch should not have been identified as an outlier (Moderate outlier or Outlier) under either
CRM or ORM parameters.

• Branch should not have been rated as Critical Risk/Very High Risk/High Risk, as per the fraud
predictive model of Analytics Department, GITC.

• Branch should not have been rated ‘C/D’, either in CRM or ORM, in the previous onsite RFIA
Audit.

• Branch should not have been penalized for submission of false compliances in the previous
audit.

b. RACPCs
Rating methodology as outlined above for domestic branches, will be applicable to the RACPCs also,
subject to the following conditions:

• NPA percentage as on March 31st, not to exceed 0.50 (to be fixed annually).

• Increase in NPA percentage not to exceed average rate of increase in RACPCs of the Circle
as well as R&DB vertical (other than RACPCs where the NPA percentage as on March 31st, is
below 0.25%). NPA% will be calculated by including the accounts migrated to SARG and
written off during the year.

• Exposure at Stress (interest and principal overdue) not to exceed circle average for RACPCs,
where the NPA percentage as on March 31st is below 0.25%).

• Quick mortality of loans being at the lowest bucket of outlier model.

• RACPC should not have been penalized for submission of false compliances in the previous
audit

c. Exclusions
SMECs, RASMECs, Industrial Finance Branches, Liability CPCs, DACs, CACs and CCPCs are
excluded from the purview of Trigger based audit with RFIA-Offsite Audit rating.

Trigger based audit with RFIA-Offsite Audit Rating: - Processes

a. Scoring and Rating methodology

Statistical model, based on back testing carried out for convergence of scores from the outlier module
of RADAR and the onsite audit scores for 13000 branches audited in the period from 01.04.2018 to
31.03.2019, has been used for conversion of CRM and ORM parameter scores from outlier module of
RADAR into RFIA-Offsite Audit scores.

Other operating processes

IAD will assess the Outlier status of the domestic R&DB branches/RACPCs based on data as at
25
31.07.2019 and arrive at the eligible branches/RACPCs after applying the filters as mentioned above.
RFIA-Offsite audit scores will be computed based on the conversion table. The applicable RFIA-
Offsite Audit rating will be conveyed to the branches and their controllers through the concerned
Circle Audit Office (CAO)/ Central Audit Unit (CAU), Hyderabad, along with the validity period of the
rating.
Performance of the branches identified for Trigger based audit with RFIA-Offsite Audit rating would
continue to be continuously evaluated through RADAR and branches where the following triggers are
detected on the quarterly reviews, will be taken up for a full scope on-site audit, not later than the
subsequent quarter in the following scenarios;-

• Outlier status of auditee unit slips by two stages i.e. Normal → Moderate or Acceptable →
Outlier and the unit remains in the downgraded status for the next quarter also (2 quarters
continuously).

• Category Type-I or category Type-II fraud detected at the branch/auditee unit.

• Branch is rated as Critical Risk/Very High Risk/High Risk, under the fraud predictive model of
Analytics Department, GITC

The revised processes shall come into effect from 01.10.2019

Based on the data evaluation in RADAR, Branches/CPCs are assigned an Outlier Status as per
details provided below,

Sr. No Outlier Status Score Risk Perception

Receive
d
1 Outlier >450 A branch categorized as ‘Outlier or
Moderate’ as per the Outlier Model is
the one with high control gaps
2 Moderate >400 to
450
3 Acceptable >250 to A branch categorized as ‘Normal or
400 Acceptable’ as per the Outlier Model is
4 Normal 0 to 250 the one with limited gaps and hence
carrying a lower risk.

Dash Board for Offsite Audit Branches

On completion of the RFIA-Offsite Audit rating under Trigger based audit with RFIA-Offsite Audit
rating, an e-mail advising the Trigger based audit with RFIA-Offsite Audit score, RFIA-Offsite Audit
rating and validity period of the rating would be sent to all the stake holders i.e. Branch, RBO,
Administrative Office, Network and Circle. Trigger based audit with RFIA-Offsite Audit Board
Scores/Rating will be made available on the IAD website with details of the audit ratings and scores
of branches, movement of scores in various parameters.

26
 Self Audit
Branches will continue to carry out Self Audit at Half Yearly Intervals, through online application, as
hitherto.

Circular No.: NBG/PBBU/NRI-GEN/22/2019 – 20 Date: Mon 23 Sep 2019

NRI SERVICES PENSION RECEIVED BY NRI CUSTOMERS CREDIT TO NRE
SAVINGS BANK / CURRENT ACCOUNT
RBI permits NRIs / PIOs to credit their current income like pension, paid by any authority in India, to
their NRE Savings Bank / Current account provided the Authorised Dealer is satisfied that the credit
represents current income and Income-Tax has been deducted / paid /provided on these incomes, as
the case may be.

At present, pension received by NRI / PIO customers is credited to their NRO account maintained by
us. Now, system has been put in place to allow credit of monthly pension disbursed by (CPPC) to
NRE Savings Bank / Current account for our NRI / PIO / OCI customers, who are interested to
receive their pension in NRE account with us.

i. NRI / PIO customers interested in receiving their monthly pension in NRE Savings Bank / Current
Account, have to submit ‘NRE Tax Undertaking’ to initiate the process. The undertaking has to be
submitted in the month of November every year along with ‘Life Certificate’.

ii. Mark NRI Flag as ‘Yes’ in Pension Application.

iii. NRE Savings Bank / Current Account number of the customer to be mentioned under Account
Number field.

iv. ‘NRE Tax Undertaking Certificate’ option to be selected under field name ‘Certificate Type’ and
‘Certificate Received Date’ has to be mentioned in Pension Application.

If NRI / PIO / OCI customer desires to receive monthly pension in NRO Savings Bank /Current
Account then the NRI Flag should be marked as ‘NO’. If ‘NRE Tax Certificate’ is not submitted in the
month of November by the customer, pension credit will be stopped in NRE-SB / CA, in line with
requirement of annual ‘Life Certificate’. Once the undertaking is received and marked in pension
application, pension will resume.
Circular No.: CDO/P&HRDPM/38/2019 20 Date: Sat 21 Sep 2019
MATERNITY LEAVE TO A CHILDLESS FEMALE OFFICER/EMPLOYEE FOR
LEGALLY ADOPTING A CHILD: CLARIFICATIONS
In terms of the extant instructions, Maternity Leave may be granted once during service to a childless
female officer for legally adopting a child who is below one year of age for a maximum period of six
months. The adoption of a child should be through a proper legal process and the employee should
27
produce the adoption-deed to the Bank for sanctioning such leave In this connection, pursuant to
enactment of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 and the Regulations
there under, the child may be taken in pre-adoption foster care by the prospective adoptive parents
after signing the pre-adoption foster care undertaking with the Specialized Adoption Agencies. The
certified copy of the adoption order from the court is obtained by the Specialized Adoption Agency
and the prospective adoptive parents subsequently. Accordingly, it has been decided that in such
cases as above, in the absence of production of adoption deed, Maternity Leave to a childless female
officer/ employee for legally adopting a child may be sanctioned in terms of extant instructions,
subject to the following:

1. Production of Pre-Adoption Foster Care Undertaking affidavit with the Specialized Adoption
Agency, as per specified format of the Adoption Regulations

2. Undertaking from the Officer that she will produce certified copy of the adoption order from the
court immediately on receipt of the same.
3. In case the order of the court/ adoption deed is not submitted before resuming the duty, the leave
will not qualify for Maternity Leave, the sanction will be cancelled and sanction for Privilege Leave/
other leave will require to be obtained for such period of absence.

Circular No.: NBG/SMEBU-PMEGP/44/2019 – 20 Date: Fri 20 Sep 2019

PRIME MINISTER’S EMPLOYMENT GENERATION PROGRAM (PMEGP) –
FORMATION OF PMEGP CELL FOR CENTRALISED PROCESSING OF
APPLICATIONS
Presently, applications uploaded in the PMEGP portal are downloaded by the respective branches
and sanction is accorded by RASMECC/SMEC/RACC/Branch. Thereafter, margin money claim is
also lodged by the branches for all loans sanctioned.

Under the revised process, one SMEC at LHO Centre/State Capital has been identified in each Circle
for centralized processing. One “WING” of this SMEC will function as “PMEGP CELL” to receive and
monitor all applications of the entire Circle.

Activities linked to initial screening, in-principle sanction and margin money claim are proposed to be
centralized at the identified PMEGP CELL and status quo will be maintained for sanction /disbursal
/custody of documents/monitoring of loans by the respective RASMECC/SMEC/RACC.

Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for centralized processing of PMEGP applications

KVIC will send eligible PMEGP applications pertaining to all the branches in the Circle to the
identified PMEGP Cell.

• Separate User id and Password will be provided to the identified SMEC by KVIC.
28
 • Details of applications along with the attachments will be downloaded by the Cell and
screening will be done for either rejection / in-principle sanction of loans on a daily basis.

• Cell will undertake preliminary scrutiny and interact with applicants, if required. Eligible
proposals will be forwarded to the linked RASMECC/SMEC/RACC of the preferred branch of
the applicant after inputting/sourcing the application in LoS

• PMEGP CELL will update the status of application in the Portal and give reason for rejection(if
rejected) immediately in the KVIC Portal. For all other proposals, the status will be indicated
as “Under Process”.

• Upon receipt of the applications from PMEGP CELL, respective RASMECC/SMEC/RACC will
initiate steps to process the applications and sanction will be accorded on all eligible
applications within defined TAT.

• PMEGP CELL at the identified SMEC will monitor the final status of sanction / rejection of
applications from LoS and the status will be updated by them in the KVIC portal within 7 days.

• For all sanctioned loans, sanction details and account number will be updated in the portal by
the Cell.

• The loan accounts will be monitored by the PMEGP CELL and upon disbursal, margin money
claim will be lodged by the Cell in the KVIC Portal.

• After KVIC releases the margin money to the BGL Account of the identified SMEC having
PMEGP CELL, the same will be forwarded to the respective branch for subsidy processing
activity in CBS.

• After the TDR is opened by the Branch in CBS, the details will be updated in the KVIC Portal
by the PMEGP Cell.

PMEGP CELL will closely monitor all applications forwarded for sanction, liaise with the sanctioning
authorities and ensure that no application is pending in the portal for more than 15 days. Margin
money will be claimed within 7 days of disbursal of loan amount.

Circular No.: NBG/SMEBU-POSOD/45/2019 - 20 Date: Fri 20 Sep 2019

Discontinuation of POS (POINT OF SALES) LINKED OVERDRAFT
Henceforth no new OD limit is to be sanctioned to the C/As having Product Code 5095-2431
(POWER POS) under POS Linked Overdraft Facility. The existing OD limit in such Current Accounts
may be continued till next renewal and/or may be converted thereafter to Dropline OD/Demand Loan
to be repayable within a maximum period of 6 months
29
Circular No.: R&DB/S&DB-YONO/24/2019 – 20 Date: Tue 17 Sep 2019
YONO SBI: FINANCIAL SUPERSTORE SBICAP SECURITIES: APPLY FOR
OPENING OF DEMAT & TRADING ACCOUNT
Process flow: Apply for Demat & Trading Account on YONO App/ Portal-
1. Customers who have not linked Demat & Trading account on YONO are being shown option to
open Demat & Trading account.

2. Navigation for ‘Open Demat & Trading account’ is ‘Investments’>> ‘Through SBICAP Securities’ in
YONO App and ‘My Relationships' >> 'My Investments' in YONO customer portal.

3. Once customer clicks on “Open Demat & Trading Account” tab, details are pre-filled from CBS and
shown to the customer (Name, Pin Code, City, Mobile Number and email ID).

4. Customer is shown error message below Pin Code in case the location is not covered by SBICAP
Securities. Customer can update his/ her current Pin Code and e-mail ID.

5. An option to enter Referral Code is being provided. Branch staff can use this field to enter his/ her
HRMS ‘Employee Referral ID’ while sourcing the lead.

6. Customer is required to accept terms and conditions before submitting.

7. Once submitted a reference number is generated which customer can keep for tracking the status
of his/her account opening application..

8. Submitted request for account opening is being manually followed by SBICAP Securities team for
account opening as per their guidelines.

Circular No.: NBG/FIMF/BC/CSP/13/2019 – 20 Date: Mon 16 Sep 2019

BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (BC) CHANNEL AEPS OFF-US (Issuer)
WITHDRAWAL TRANSACTION MODIFICATION IN TRANSACTION LIMIT FOR FI
and Non FI CUSTOMERS

a) The maximum number of AEPS OFF-US issuer withdrawal transactions per day per customer at
BC channel is restricted to ONE for both FI and NON FI customers.

b) The maximum number of AEPS issuer withdrawal transactions for FI customers at BC is restricted
to FOUR per month.

c) The maximum number of AEPS issuer withdrawal transactions for non-FI customers is restricted to
FIVE per month

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Circular No.: R&DB/S&DB-YONO/23/2019 – 20 Date: Mon 16 Sep 2019
PROJECT LOTUS: YONO REGISTRATION OF YONO THROUGH BRANCH
PORTAL
We have designed a new simplified registration process in YONO Branch Portal. This process
will work for both Internet banking and YONO.
.
a. The user credentials will be activated immediately, which will entail Branch staff to hand hold the
customer to complete registration and log-in during their visit to the Branch.

b. The Customer on opening of Savings Bank account can be immediately on-boarded into digital
platform using this new registration process.

c. Creation of Temporary ID has been removed.

d. Profile Password creation process has been delinked from registration.

e. Along with RINB registration the process ends with YONO registration and therefore, by this
process both INB and YONO registration will be completed under single journey

Circular No.: R&DB/OPS-KYC/KYC/10/2019 – 20 Date: Tue 17 Sep 2019

KYC NONCOMPLIANT ACCOUNTS PARTIAL FREEZING

TRIGGERING OF PARTIAL FREEZE

Partial Freeze means restricting debits in the account through all channels, but allowing credits.

i. Due notice of one month initially will be sent by ordinary post/courier to the customer to comply with
the KYC requirements. If the account remains noncompliant even after one month of notice period, a
reminder will be sent to the customer by Registered post with acknowledgement due giving a further
period of one month.

ii. If the notice is returned with postal remarks ‘non available in house’, ‘house locked’, ‘shop closed’
or due to a refusal to accept the notice, the same would be a deemed service of the notice. However,
in such cases, Branch shall attempt to contact the customer through other means e.g. email,
telephone or SMS etc.

iii. Copy of notice issued, and any notice returned undelivered shall be held in a separate file, in the
custody of the Branch Manager for the purpose of further reference. The first and second notices
shall be entered, chronologically, in a separate dak register for easy tracking.

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iv. Partial freeze to be imposed after three months from date of first notice, by allowing all credits but
disallowing all debits, if the account remains KYC noncompliant

RECORDING OF REMINDERS:
The Branches/Operating units should meticulously input the dates of notices sent to the customer in
CBS. The path for recording the dates in CBS is through the Customer Amend Screen (67050) >
Customer Details > Option 12: KYC Reminders details (Drop down). This information is important as
it will be used for sending centralized bulk SMSs or emails. After setting the partial freeze, credits to
the account will be continued to be permitted. However, whenever a debit transaction is attempted,
error messages will be displayed.

REMOVAL OF PARTIAL FREEZE

During the course of such freeze, an account holder can revive his / her account by submitting the
KYC documents as per instructions in force. When a customer submits the documents,
acknowledgment has to be issued to the customer without fail. In all cases, if the customer
chooses to close the account, he/she may be permitted to do so, and account settled, after
establishing his / her identity.

Circular No.: NBG/SMEBU-SME ADVANC/43/2019 – 20 Date: Mon 16 Sep 2019

SME ADVANCES: SM E e-SMART SCORE UNDER CONTACTLESS LENDING
PLATFORM (CLP) RENEWALS FROM Rs.1.00 LACS TO Rs.500.00 lacs
THROUGH CLP

Further, we now advise that all renewals and enhancement proposals for the units having the GST
number and limits above Rs.1.00 lacs upto Rs.500.00 lacs should be handled through Contactless
Lending Platform (CLP) i.e. www.psbloansin59minutes.com/sbi. It is reiterated that the in-principle
approved leads of more than Rs.10.00 lacs to Rs.100.00 lacs should be processed under SME e-
SMART Score scheme. However, the leads from Rs.1.00 lacs to Rs.10.00 lacs and leads above
Rs.100.00 lacs to Rs.500.00 lacs should be processed under Bank’s regular schemes.

Circular No.: CDO/P&HRD-PM/35/2019 - 20 Date: Wed 11 Sep 2019

CLARIFICATIONS: I. ENCASHMENT OF LEAVE WHILE AVAILING OF LTC/ HTC
II. LEAVE(S) UNDER WHICH LTC/ HTC CAN BE AVAILED
Accordingly, it has been decided to introduce following guidelines in the matter:

I. Encashment of Leave in the HRMS while availing LTC/ HTC or encashment of the LTC:

i. Option to apply/ approve Encashment of leave at the time of availment of LTC/ HTC, shall be
available only prior to the date of commencement of journey under LTC/ HTC.

ii. The facility of encashment of privilege leave while encashing the facility of LTC shall be available
up to the 15th of the following month of approval of LTC encashment in the HRMS.

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iii. The payment of leave encashment will be made along with the salary for the month if it is approved
before salary processing or with next month’s salary.

II. Leave(s) under which LTC/ HTC can be availed:

i. LTC/ HTC may be availed under Casual leave, Privilege leave, Sick leave (on production of medical
certificate), Maternity leave, Paternity Leave, and Bereavement Leave.

ii. LTC/ HTC can also be availed while availing ‘PL under Vacation Policy’.

iii. However, the facility of LTC/ HTC will ‘not’ be available under: a. Study Leave,

b. Sabbatical Leave (it will not affect the original LTC/ HTC block period and the same will continue
i.e. the block/ period will not be extended)

c. Leave/ absence from duty under any other Special Casual Leave / Special Leave.

Circular No.: R&DB/OPS-KYC/KYC/9/2019 – 20 Date: Mon 9 Sep 2019

Know Your Customer (KYC) Standards / Anti Money Laundering (AML)
/Combating of Financing of Terrorism (CFT) Standards Amendment to RBI
Master Direction on KYC Small Accounts
The stipulation says that “Where the individual customer maintaining a Small account is a prisoner in
a jail his signature or thumb impression shall be affixed in presence of the officer in charge of the jail
and the said officer shall certify the same under his signature. The account shall remain operational
on annual submission of certificate of proof of address issued by the officer in charge of the jail.

Explanation 1: At the time of opening a Small Account, if the individual is a prisoner in a jail his
signature or thumb impression shall be affixed in presence of the officer incharge of the jail and the
said officer shall certify the same under his signature.

Expalnation 2: Such accounts will remain operational on annual submission of certificate of proof of
address issued by the officer in charge of the jail. The usual requirement of submission of proof of
application for Officially Valid Document (OVD) within 12 months or review of relaxation after 24
months will not apply in these cases.

Circular No.: NBG/CPC/3/2019 - 20 Date: Sat 7 Sep 2019

CHEQUE TRUNCATION SYSTEM (CTS) – FRAUD MITIGATION MEASURES
ADDITION OF NEW SECURITY FEATURE PRINTING OF REVERSE ACCOUNT
NUMBER
To minimize the risk of cheque related fraud, a new security feature in existing Multi City Cheques
(CTS-2010) is introduced of reverse printing of account number. This is an overt feature and can be
seen by naked eyes. A black box is printed after incorporating the account number in reverse. The

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new CTS feature is scheduled to be launched w.e.f. 15.09.2019 and all new MCC cheque book
printed by security printers will contain this feature along with existing security features. All existing
cheques books without this feature should be continued to be honored as per existing instructions

Circular No.: NBG/SMEBU-SPLPROJ/42/2019 – 20 Date: Sat 7 Sep 2019

PROJECT VIVEK: REVISED GUIDELINES I. REVISED INSTRUCTIONS ON TATII.
INCLUSION OF ADDITIONAL PRODUCTS FOR PROCESSING UNDER PROJECT
VIVEK III. RESTRICTION IN USE OF OTHER METHOD
Expected turnaround time (TAT) for revised SME Credit appraisal process under Project Vivek was
prescribed as 35 days (maximum) and computation of TAT started with the creation of CUE
application in LLMS/LOS till uploading of signed resolution of sanction. It has been decided that TAT
for proposal processed under Project Vivek shall now be calculated from date of creation of
application in PACE Tool (instead of date of creation of CUE [existing]) to uploading of resolution of
the Sanctioning Authority. TAT for SME credit appraisal processed under Project Vivek to be further
reduced to 25 days from 35 days.

Additional products to be covered under Project Vivek:

As per e-Circular No. NBG/SMEBU-LIP/29/2017-18 dated on Project Vivek, the following types of
loan proposals are being processed under Project Vivek.

i. All SME Loan proposals under the Bank’s Usual Credit Dispensation Scheme.

ii. Loan proposals under e-DFS

Further in terms of e-Circular No. NBG/SMEBU-SPLPROJ/11/2019-20 dated 15.05.2019, w.e.f.

01.06.2019 four new products / schemes viz Asset Backed Loan (ABL), Dal Mill Plus, Finance against
warehouse receipt (WHR) and Arthias Plus have been brought under purview of Project Vivek.In
continuation of the above, the Competent Authority has accorded approval to include the following
Products / schemes to be processed under Project Vivek.

1. SBI OD Product for Business Correspondents (BCs) (limit above Rs.25.00 lacs to Rs.5.00 crores)

2. SBI “SME e-Biz Loan” (limit above Rs.50.00 lacs to Rs.5.00 crores) Proposals for credit facilities
under above products shall be processed under Project Vivek w.e.f. 01.09.2019 and the assessment
of FBWC limits of these two products shall be carried out by using “Other Method”. The necessary
changes in LLMS are being carried out separately.

2. Restriction on use of “Other Method”

It is observed that in many of the proposals processed under Project Vivek, the FBWC limits have
been assessed by choosing the option of “Other Method”. It is to be noted that “Other Method” option
under Project Vivek was provided only as a leeway for deviating from Loan Policy Method in
exceptionally deserving cases. In this regard, it has now been decided to restrict the use of “Other
34
Method” for assessment of FBWC limits for products / schemes covered under Project Vivek other
than those which are already excluded.Presently, FBWC limit of e-DFS is being assessed by using
“Other Method” and with addition of two more new products, following three products only will be
assessed using “Other Method”

i. Electronic Dealer Finance Scheme (e-DFS)

ii. SBI OD Product for Business Correspondents (BCs) (Limit: From Rs.25.00 lacs to Rs.5.00 Crores

iii. SBI “SME e-Biz Loan” (Limit above Rs.50 lacs to Rs.5.00 Crores)

No other product under Project Vivek will be processed using “Other Method” for assessment of
FBWC limits and in case of any deviation for assessment of FBWC limits under the “Other Method”
for any other product other than the above 3 products,approval of respective GM (Network) of the
Circle should be obtained before sanction in line with the deviation for “No Go” advised vide circular
no. 1500 / 2018-19 dated 08.02.2019.
Circular No.: NBG/PB/C^ITU-CSP/13/2019 – 20 Date: Tue 3 Sep 2019
CORPORATE SALARY PACKAGE: NEW PRODUCT “CSP LITE”
Variant Salary Range per month of CSP lite

Extant Criteria (Net Salary) - Rs. 7,000 to less than Rs. 10,000

Revised Criteria (Net Salary)- Rs. 5,000 to less than Rs. 10,000

Particulars CSP Lite

Eligibility Net Salary Rs. 5,000 to less than Rs. 10,000

Minimum Balance Nil No Penalty for non-maintenance of

Monthly Average Balance

Complementary (PAI) Rs 1 Lakh

No of free transactions through As per Regular SB A/cs

Branch channel

Issuance of ATM cum Debit Card Free Domestic Classic Debit Card

Add on card: As applicable to Regular SB A/cs

AMC on Debit Cards As applicable to Regular SBA/cs

Multi City Cheques As per Regular SB A/c

Overdraft facility Not Available

35
NEFT/RTGS As per Regular SB A/c

Circular No.: NBG/OPS-FATC-CTDS/2/2019 - 20 Date: Tue 3 Sep 2019

FATCA & CRS: DIGITISATION OF SELF-CERTIFICATIONS
In the case of Pre-existing accounts, i.e. accounts opened upto 31.12.2015, where self-certifications
had been taken separately and were not part of AOF are presently lying with the branches only. For
proper storage and easy retrieval, it has now been decided to send these Self-Certifications lying at
the branches to respective LCPCs for digitization and physical storage through a maintenance
workflow

Circular No.: IBG/IBG- Domestic(IBD)/29/2019 -20 Date: Tue 3 Sep 2019

REFUND OF ADVANCE AGAINST EXPORTS CAPTURING OF DETAILS IN EXIM
BILLS (SOP)
Where an exporter receives advance payment (with or without interest), from a buyer outside India,
the exporter shall be under an obligation to ensure that the shipment of goods is made within one
year from the date of receipt of advance payment; the rate of nterest, if any, payable on the advance
payment does not exceed London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (LIBOR) + 100 basis points; and the
documents covering the shipment are routed through the AD Category – I bank through whom the
advance payment is received.Provided that in the event of the exporter’s inability to make the
shipment, partly or fully, within one year from the date of receipt of advance payment, no remittance
towards refund of unutilized portion of advance payment or towards payment of interest, shall be
made after the expiry of the said period of one year, without the prior approval of the Reserve Bank.
In order to address this, IBD had taken up the matter with GITC for creating a system based record of
all such refunds. TF department, GITC, has since enabled the functionality in Exim Bills, in the menu
"Import collection lodgement of bills > Payment > Outward Remittance". Operating units are
therefore advised to process all requests for refund of Advance payments.

Upon receipt of a request for refund of advance payment, operating units must process the same
through the menu - "Import collection lodgement of bills > Payment > Outward Remittance". On
registering the outward remittance in the "Register Outward Remittance -Main page" In the TAB
for R return code, user to select purpose code as S 1501.

Once the user selects this purpose code, the LC / BG reference number field (under the payment
details) will turn from a non-mandatory field to a mandatory field.

User needs to key in the Inward Remittance details of the advance payment requested for refund.
The system will fetch all other details of the transaction including the amount of Inward remittance,
which is to be refunded (all the details will be auto populated and protected).

36
System will calculate the difference between "IRM realisation date" (the date of receipt of Advance
Payment) and the transaction date (date of refund).

If difference between the IRM - transaction date is less than 360 days, system will permit the user to
confirm / release / save the transaction.

In case the difference between the IRM realisation date and transaction date is >360 days,
transaction will move to user having Supervisory function (i.e. usercapability with 5 and above) in the
function "Advance Payment Tracker -RM".

All fields from the respective ''Outward Remittance’‘shown will be displayed in protected mode.
Supervisor (RM) will be presented with a drop down with options ''Accept'' / ''Reject'‘. In the field
"Supervisor Notes" - Supervisor to provide justification for Accepting / Rejecting the transaction.

Supervisor while accepting the transaction must enter RBI approval details like RBI letter no./ date of
approval etc. before confirming the transaction.

On clicking the confirm button - transaction flows to user / maker and will be available in the ''Rectify
Transaction ‘‘function.

In case interest is also being paid by the remitter –

In the "Import Collection Lodgement of Bills > Payment > Outward Remittance" function, user to
enter the details in the following fields

1. Interest amount.
2. Interest rate.
3. Spread . (LIBOR + xxxx basis points)

Users to ensure that the interest rate does not exceed ''LIBOR + 100 bps" as mandated in the
RBI Master Direction mentioned above.
By default, the above fields are optional but would be made mandatory once the user selects "R
Return code as S1501". User to enter the reasons for refund in the field ''Reasons for Refund".
User can enter up to 300 character in the field, along with the RBI approval details wherever
mandated. It is advised that users may refer the latest instructions on payment of interest while
handling the refunds

Circular No.: IT/GLOBALIT-ITRSNC/16/2019 - 20 Date: Tue 3 Sep 2019

REAL TIME GROSS SETTLEMENT (RTGS) SYSTEM EXTENSION OF TIMINGS
FOR CUSTOMER TRANSACTION

37
Sr.No. Event Existing Revised Time
Time
1. Open for Business 08:00 hours 07:00 hours

2. Customer transactions (Initial Cut- 18:00 hours 18:00 hours

off)

3. Inter-bank transactions (Final Cut- 19:45 hours 19:45 hours

off)

4 IDL Reversal 19:45 hours – 19:45 hours – 20:00 hours

20:00 hours

Circular No.: NBG/PBBU-PMD-GDS/8/2019 - 20 Date: Tue 3 Sep 2019

GOLD MONETISATION SCHEME (GMS) REVAMPED GOLD DEPOSIT SCHEME
(R-GDS) MODIFICATION IN GUIDELINES RBI NOTIFICATION NO. RBI/2019-20/43
DATED 16/08/2019

(i) We reiterate that all the deposits under the scheme shall be made at the CPTC. Arrangements, in
this regard, are in place with MMTC-PAMP Refineries, which is having 13 Collection Centres across
the countries. 12 of the total 56 Designated Branches have been linked with these Collection Centres.
These branches can accept deposits from all types of depositors including small depositors.

(ii) Large Deposits can be accepted at all the Designated Branches.

(iii) Depositors can also be allowed for deposit their gold directly with the Refiners also. Presently, we
have arrangements with India Govt Mint and MMTC – PAMP, which are accredited Refiners.

(iv) While steps have been initiated for giving publicity to scheme by placing the details in Bank’s
website bank.sbi and by sending SMSes to HNI customers of the bank, all the Designated Branches
are advised to place banners/poster/play-cards in the branch premises to give publicity to the
scheme.
.

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