Core banking solution soon for urban co-operative banks

National Federation of Urban Co-operative Banks & Credit Societies (NFUCBCS) and Gujarat Urban Co-operative Banks Federation (GUCBF) are jointly working out the ambitious plan that Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and Chief Minister Narendra Modi will launch on December 25 in the presence of senior RBI officials.

NFUCBCS president H K Patil said on Tuesday that CBS will enable a customer to operate his/her account and avail banking services from any of the bank’s branches in the country regardless of the city where he/she maintains an account. Besides,e-channel integration will enhance service levels drastically with online ATM connectivity,Internet banking,SMS banking and telebanking.

GUCBF chairman Jyotindra Mehta said CBS will standardise banking processes and also assist in centralising and consolidating operations. He said the introduction of CBS will enable banks to further reduce operational costs and revenue leakage as also improve their visibility.

With CBS,all repetitive and mundane jobs will be shifted to one central location,which will ensure operational efficiency and provide an indirect avenue on reduction of operational costs. But UCBs,especially the small ones are facing a problem in finding the right vendor and the high installation costs in implementing CBS,Mehta added.

Patil said: “We have selected four vendors ¿ C-Edge Technology Ltd,Mindmill Software Ltd,Tata Consultancy Services Ltd and Theme Technologies Ltd after careful screening. The vendor selected will provide CBS at a monthly rental of Rs 12,900 per branch.” Mehta said the shortlisted vendors will give a demonstration before 3,000 delegates from across India at the two-day event at University Ground.

Of the 1,674 UCBs in India,nearly 300 will have CBS facilities by the end of 2011. As an inclusive measure,eight out of every 100 weak banks will be given the facility free,officials added.