FOR SBI, ATM means At Their Mercy. Review on State Bank Of India

I am prompted to write this after the nation-wide strike by public officials and bank employees which they claimed were backed by the population at large. Well, I am no votary of privatisation myself except for the fact that the alternative is much worse as anybody who has to deal with these public sector employees would testify. Bank employees are no better, at least going by my experiences with the State Bank of India, .

ATM cards burst on the Indian banking scene only a few years ago, being the preserve of account-holders of a few foreign banks prior to that. Even though I had an ATM card from HSBC, the limited number of their branches prompted me to apply for an SBI ATM card when they were introduced, especially since the branch at which I bank was a rather congested ones with queues for everything, even to enter the branch. Well, that was all of three years ago, and I am yet to get my card. In the meantime, I have obtained ATM Card from other private Indian banks without any hassle whatsoever. But, every time I enquired about my card at SBI, I was told the card hadn't arrived and advised to fill up a fresh application form. At last count, I had applied for my ATM card four times in three years, and there was still no trace of it.

I then decided to get pro-active and called up the SBI ATM helpline at 1600 112211. They told me that they had received the very first form but none of the subsequent ones and the reason they hadn't processed my application form was because of a mistake made by my branch while forwarding my application. I was therefore advised to go to my branch and have them send an email rectifying the mistake. The work of a few minutes, no doubt, had one been banking with any bank other than SBI! I went straight to the bank manager at my branch, and she put me on to one employee who put me on to another who put me on to another...in other words, the usual story of non co-operation that one has faced at these banks since the beginning of time. I finally went back to the bank manager who then advised me to fill up another application form ( my fifth!!!) and assured me that she would make sure herself that it was sent off that very same day. This time, she wanted me to write ''Replacement Card'' in bold letters on the application form since my records were already in the system and any fresh form without this magic words would be automatically rejected. This also explained the fate of the other four application forms that I had filled out, since earlier the staff had not bothered to inform me of this requirement, either out of ignorance or indifference, take your pick.

Taking her at her word, I took it easy and called up the call centre only a month later, only to get the same response, ie, they were yet to receive any communication from the branch!!! So, off it was again to meet the branch manager. She again got her data processing guy to ever so reluctantly dig out the records to prove that she had indeed sent my form. She then called up the call centre herself with the reference number to inform them that the form had been sent and that the problem was at their end, only to be told that they hadn't received it. Apparently, even email couldn't survive the in-built inefficiencies of the Indian public sector.

Well, she promised me she would send it again properly this time around. That was last week, and when I called up the call centre yesterday, guess what, they still hadn't received it. As they say on TV, stay tuned for more developments on this story!

The funniest part is, that my wife, who was fortunate enough to get her SBI ATM card (but not without going through her share of troubles), informs me that there is never any money in the SBI ATM machine! That's technology harnessed to increase the customer's blood pressure, SBI style! I would advise other who have applied for their ATM cards to call up the call centre and find out the status of their applications rather than wait till kingdom come.

Postscript: I went back and met the bank manager again a coupla days back; she said she had managed to get my application across to the processing centre by email after ten attempts (!!!) So, now, I guess all I have to is sit back and keep my fingers crossed:)

PPS: Still waiting for my ATM card but it looks like I might not need it after all- apparently the ATM machine I was intending to use had developed the annoying habit of deducting a further thousand rupees from the account of whoever used it. One soul refused to take this bank robbery in reverse and sent his fist flying through the touchscreen. Well, he sure did other account holders a favour!

November 16, 2003

Post script: I never thought that I'd ever have to eat my words but after getting the card, I have to admit that it's the most useful card I've had. There'an SBI ATM at almost every nook and corner of this country and the debit card option has come in quite handy quite a few times. What's more, it come completely free of charge. And so, I'm now giving credit where it's due and revising my rating for SBI ATM cards.