The State Bank of India is set to introduce green-channel banking to promote paperless work and reduce footfall of customers in the already over-burdened ATMs and branches. p>

SBI general manager for network-I D Mozumdar said here on Saturday that apart from regular counters, a new counter was being opened in which customers could swipe their ATM cards and enter the pin code to receive cash from the person manning the counter. “In this way, there will be no requirement for paperwork and the process of money withdrawal will be fast,” he said.

Under the financial inclusion scheme of the Reserve Bank of India, SBI has been asked to take up responsibilities in 43 of the 156 “under-banked” blocks of the state, besides extending banking facilities to 408 villages having a population of over 2,000 people. Mozumdar said SBI would connect 200 villages by March this year through different banking techniques. “We do not require brick and mortar branches these days to extend banking facilities because technology has made the work easier and SBI is fortunate to have all the modern banking technology,” he said.

All 200 villages where SBI is planning to launch services by March will be on technology platform that includes micro-ATM or mobile-based banking in which the customers having a mobile phone can access his or her account through the cell phone and bio-metric smart cards by which a user is identified on a hand-held machine through finger prints. Business correspondents appointed by bank will also disburse cash along with printed receipts and through kiosk-mode in which the bank provides a laptop with face-reading and voice-recognition software to enable transactions.