State Bank of India (SBI) has seen a perceptible increase in number of transactions happening at its multiple digital channels, with the percentage moving from 60 per cent in the pre-pandemic period to 67 per cent currently, SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara has said. 

The rise in the number of digital transactions of the country’s largest lender has largely been driven by a pick-up in e-commerce during the pandemic-induced lockdown, which had restricted movement, Mr Khara has said.

“When e-commerce picked up, it was actually the digital channels we are offering that got wider currency and acceptability. That is one of the reasons our digital transactions have gone as high as 67 per cent now. I think it is a phenomenal number, considering the fact that we are a bank which is serving all kinds of customers – digitally-savvy and not digitally-savvy,” Mr Khara has added.

The SBI chief has added that the ecosystem – such as round-the-clock availability of Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS) and National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) which has got created recently – has also helped the bank in scaling up its digital transactions. “I think a part of it (higher digital transactions) is coming from the ecosystem, and a part of it has come from the bank’s own effort,” he has noted.

The lender’s digital lending platform – YONO (You Only Need One App) – has achieved significant growth during the current financial year. At present, there are 3.5 crore registered users of YONO, and the bank is opening over 35,000 to 40,000 savings accounts per day with the help of the mobile app, Mr Khara has said.