Digital SB accounts click with youngsters
Digital Savings Bank accounts that can be opened online instantly have become a hit with youngsters.
Unlike a normal account that requires one to go to a bank to submit documents in line with Know Your Customer (KYC) norms and wait in queues, digital accounts can be opened anytime using a smartphone or computer.
Yono, State Bank of India’s flagship venture, has witnessed the opening of 27,000 accounts per day in July on some days. This is seen as a ‘digital bank’ with a five-time increase in the daily run rate for account opening in the last two months, according to data provided by SBI.
Kotak Mahindra Bank’s digital SB account, titled 811, has also elicited huge response, according to its Executive Vice-President, Puneet Kapoor. The bank added 65 lakh customers in 15 months since the launch of its online account opening facility in March 2017. “This represented an annualised growth of 61 per cent,” he said.
An online savings account can be opened by downloading the bank’s app and authenticating oneself with Aadhaar credentials via a one-time password. It is a zero-balance savings account with zero charges for all digital transactions, where customers can earn 5 per cent on savings account balance up to Rs.1 lakh and 6 per cent on balances above Rs.1 lakh up to Rs.1 crore.
As per available data, most of these accounts are opened by those in the age group of 20-40 years.
Axis Bank’s online instant savings account ASAP has also witnessed encouraging response from customers. Over 6.4 lakh instant accounts have been opened during the last few months, including 3.9 lakh accounts in the first quarter.
