Doorstep banking for elderly on cards

Over 50 million senior citizens above 70 years of age and an equally large number of differently abled persons could soon expect to get basic banking services in the convenience of their homes.

The department of financial services (DFS) in the finance ministry proposes to notify a new guide for bankers soon, which will make doorstep provision of banking services mandatory for certain bank branches for senior citizens and the differently abled, according to two persons aware of the development.

One of the two people said that identified bank branches would offer doorstep delivery banking on payment of a nominal user-fee. There may be a universal phone number to request these services.

Doorstep banking services have already been mandated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which gave banks two separate deadlines—31 December 2017 and again 30 April 2020. But pan-India application remains weak and patchy. The government through a fresh notification now wants to make these services mandatory with strict instruction for time-bound implementation. It also wants banks to constantly expand the scope of such services to cater to large sections of needy population across the country.