THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Worried over the ATM withdrawal charges eating into your modest income? Here is a good news. The Thiruvananthapuram District Cooperative Bank is offering ATM services absolutely free of cost.Not just ATM, the bank also offers e-commerce facilities and POS transactions using its debit cards. E-commerce facilities, including utility bill payment and online purchases, which were launched last week are getting an encouraging response from the customers, officials said.
The 59-year-old TDCB, a pioneer in the state’s cooperative banking sector, has 83 branches and 7.5 lakh customers. “We aim to bring at least half of its customer base to the digital platform,” said S Kumar, general manager of TDCB.The bank launched ATM cards for customers in the 2014 -15 fiscal and has already issued 38,000 cards. The daily average of ATM hits at its lone machine installed at East Fort is between 250 and 300. Number of hits by TDCB cards in the teller machines of other banks is in the 300-350 range.
TDCB customers can use the ATM card at any bank’s teller machine any number of time free of cost.
POS transaction was launched in January this year and the combined daily average hits of POS and e-commerce transactions is over 100.Kumar said the bank has launched awareness programmes to lure more customers to the digital platform. “Our Financial Literacy Centres and branches have been asked to campaign for the new facilities. Campaigns are necessary since a major chunk of our customers are elders,” he said.
The four FLCs of the banks are based at Nedumangad, Vamanapuram, Athiyannoor and Perunkadavila. They are conducting awareness campaigns focusing on different segments like schools, colleges, libraries and ayalkoottams.TDCB hopes the free ATM service and e-commerce facility would be a game changer. “We target the young generation and those who are unhappy with the ATM transaction charge levied by commercial banks. It has been only a week since we launched the e-commerce facility. The number of customers paying power and water charges is increasing day by day,” he said.
TDCB does not want to “impose” debit card on every customer but aims to build up a quality customer base on the digital platform, said Kumar. “The bank spends Rs 100 for a card and incurs an additional charge to support the customer’s usage. Hence, we will provide the card to those customers who will utilise it. The target is to bring half of our 7.50 lakh customer base to the digital platform,” Kumar said.
TDCB also plans to launch online banking facility in near future.