Based on the norms worked out by Rangarajan Committee (II), 7827 branches of the Public Sector banks were identified for full branch computerisation upto March 2000 of which around 4620 were computerised as on March 99. Meanwhile, the networking of the already-computerised branches also assumed urgency and some of the Banks have started inter-connecting their computerised branches using leased telephone lines or Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATS). This is meant to provide a more comprehensive service to customers and at the same time give banks better centralised control over the branch operations. As of now, New Private Sector and Foreign Banks have an edge over Public Sector Banks as far as implementation of technological solutions is concerned. However, the latter are in the process of making huge investments in technology. The Financial Reforms that were initiated in the early 90s and the globalisation and liberalisation measures brought in a completely new operating environment to the Banks that were till then operating in a highly protected milieu. The arrival of foreign Banks and Financial Institutions, the setting up of a number of private banks and the measures of de-regulation that encouraged competition has led to a situation where the survival of those who do not join the race will become difficult. Unless the state-of- the-art IT was introduced as early as possible, winning new business and even holding on to the old one will become increasingly difficult. Services and products like "Anywhere Banking" "Tele-Banking" "Internet banking" "Web Banking" , e-banking, e-commerce, e-business etc. have become the buzzwords of the day and the Banks are trying to cope with the competition by offering innovative and attractively packaged technology-based services to their customers. Simultaneously, the importance of effective MIS for control of operations and of maintaining customer and business/industry data bases for strategic planning has also surfaced; while Banks are looking at Data warehousing, Data mining, Business Restructuring etc. as most essential things to have as early as possible, they are taking urgent steps to computerise the operations in their administrative and controlling offices (viz. head /zonal/regional offices) as well as the data collection machinery, so as to evolve an effective MIS. In this phase, the new communication revolution sweeping the nation and the world has come in extremely handy, as the communication infrastructure has improved significantly and the Internet technologies are available to network branches at a relatively low and affordable cost with a high degree of reliability. The present level of MIS covers, basically, information needed for control, performance monitoring, decision making etc. and encompasses most activities in administrative offices like processing of statutory returns under Reserve Bank of India Act, monthly/quarterly performance reports from branches, credit information/BSR, inter-branch transactions, personnel inventory, provident fund accounting, profit and loss accounts, cash and investment management, stationery stock accounting, and branch house keeping etc.
Computerisation in Public Sector Banks (As on March 31, 2006) |
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