FM Sitharaman unveils Doorstep Banking Services by PSBs; declares EASE 2.0 Index results

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday inaugurated Doorstep Banking Services by Public Sector Banks (PSBs), to provide the convenience of banking services to people at their doorsteps.

The services can be rendered by doorstep banking agents deployed by selected Service providers at 100 centres across the country, a press release issued by the Finance Ministry said. FM Sitharaman also participated in the awards ceremony to felicitate best performing banks on EASE Banking Reforms Index.

"As part of the EASE Reforms, Doorstep Banking Services is envisaged to provide the convenience of banking services to the customers at their doorstep through the universal touchpoints of Call Centre, Web Portal or Mobile App. Customers can also track their service request through these channels," the release said.

The services would benefit all customers, particularly Senior Citizens and Divyangs who can easily avail these services at nominal charges.

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Performance of PSBs on EASE 2.0 index

"PSBs have shown a healthy trajectory in their performance over four quarters since the launch of EASE 2.0 Reforms Agenda. The overall score of PSBs increased by 37% between March-2019 and March-2020, with the average EASE index score improving from 49.2 to 67.4 out of 100,” the release said.  

According to the Finance Ministry, PSBs have shown significant progress across six themes of the Reforms Agenda, with the highest improvement seen in the themes - 'Responsible Banking', 'Governance and HR', 'PSBs as Udyamimitra for MSMEs', and Credit off-take.

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Major achievements between March 2018-2020,

In a major achievement, most PSB customers now have access to more than 35 services including IMPS, NEFT, RTGS, intra-bank transfer, account statement, cheque book request on mobile/Internet banking and 23 services such as cheque book issuance, cheque status, issuance of form 16A, block/activate the debit card on the call centre. The availability of services to the customers has nearly doubled over the last 24 months.

Nearly four crore active customers have been using mobile and internet banking with a 140% increase in financial transactions through online banking channels and almost 50% of financial transactions through digital means.

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(With inputs from agency)