Twitter
Advertisement

SBI lays Foundation for CSR actions, launches e-wallet

State Bank of India (SBI) has set up SBI Foundation as a subsidiary to implement programmes under corporate social responsibility. The bank will set aside 1% of its profits for the initiative.

Latest News
article-main
SBI Logo
FacebookTwitterWhatsappLinkedin

State Bank of India (SBI) has set up SBI Foundation as a subsidiary to implement programmes under corporate social responsibility. The bank will set aside 1% of its profits for the initiative.

All the associates and subsidiaries will set aside 2% of their profits and this will also be channelised through the SBI Foundation. The annual corpus of the foundation will be Rs 175 crore, of which Rs 130 crore will come from the bank and the remaining from the subsidiaries.

The Foundation has applied under the section 80 G of the Income-Tax Act so that the funds received would be 50% tax exempt.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley said while inaugurating the Foundation, "In spite of the constraints faced by public sector over private sector banks, SBI remains the market leader in the social and economic programmes of the state."

He cited the examples of Jan Dhan Yojna and Social Security Insurance schemes, wherein SBI performed a commendable job and led others way ahead." SBI, he added, has "always been instrumental in CSR activities."

He especially appreciated the bank for throwing its weight behind the small men and said, "it is the marginal men who make the impact".

The bank also launched on Tuesday its e-wallet branded as 'SBI Buddy'. It comes with several features likes send money to registered and new users, send reminders to settle dues, transfer additional cash into account of your choice free of cost, recharge and pay bills instantly, book movie tickets, shop for merchandise. SBI has also tied up with leading e-commerce websites for discounts while using the SBI debit and credit cards.

Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairman, SBI, said, "This is one more step in our ambition of becoming the provider-of-choice for customers' everyday needs, both financial and non-financial. Mobile is going to be at the center of this transformation and State Bank Buddy will help us strengthen our proposition through this medium."

B Sriram, managing director and group executive, said, "With 286 million customers, 450 million accounts and about 2,872 transactions a second, SBI Buddy will be a great digital payment initiative."

Jaitley commended the efforts of SBI in digitizing India and visualized the situation where very soon the brick and mortar branches, cheque-books, passbook printing, etc., will become redundant. This would make transactions cashless, make expenditure and accounting of money easier, thus bringing more and more money in the official net.

Available in 13 different languages, SBI Buddy would cater to all kinds of users.

Find your daily dose of news & explainers in your WhatsApp. Stay updated, Stay informed-  Follow DNA on WhatsApp.
Advertisement

Live tv

Advertisement
Advertisement