He is the Chairman of the largest cooperative body in the country. Young and dynamic Saraswat Cooperative Bank Chairman Mr Gautam Thakur moves in tandem with the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and supports demonetization and the concept of a cashless India whole-heartedly.
Presiding over the only co-operative empire which has gone beyond Rs 50 thousand plus business mix Thakur’s readiness to accept challenges considerably explains the success of Saraswat Bank.
Thakur does not say there is no problem in the wake of demonetization but braces for the challenge and carries others along in the arduous journey. How? Read it yourself
Indian Cooperative: What problems are you facing in doing business in the wake of demonetization?
Gautam Thakur: There are many; to list a few
Shortage of Cash
All resources diverted to management of post-demonization crisis ignoring other primary businesses. .
Unusual surge in demand for POS resulting in delays / non –deliveries.
Indian Cooperative: What strategy have your Bank adopted to wriggle out of the situation?
Gautam Thakur: We have initiated several steps such as
To promote cash less channels like Debit Card, Mobile Banking, Internet Banking, e-wallet.
Educational programs for digital products are conducted regularly for our employees.
We have designated an IT Evangelist at each branch / department.
Indian Cooperative: Saraswat Bank has perhaps opened 24000 new Bank accounts, registered a huge number of
Gautam Thakur: Yes, it is very much true. These figures are from the date of demonetization till the 10th of December.
Till 17/12/2016, we have opened 36427 new Bank accounts, of which 24202 are registered for Debit Cards and 5284 for Mobile Banking.
On an average, we open 1000 accounts per day. We are now to register new accounts for all the digital channels. We promote digital channels through incentive schemes for employees as well as for customers.
We have total customer base of 27 lakh of which 14 lakh are registered for debit cards, over 3 lakh mobile banking registrations, over 3 lakh customers registered for Internet Banking.
Indian Cooperative: What else are you planning in the days to come?
Gautam Thakur: We have ensured that every new account is registered for digital channel. Next, we have initiated drives for registering existing customers for debit card, mobile banking, chillr etc.
We are also going for promotion of e-wallet for merchant transactions through chillr for merchants to complement POS-based transactions in a big way.
We have also taken special initiatives to promote digitization of customers of our branches in Goa to help the state become cashless.
Indian Cooperative: Are you also helping smaller UCBs to ease their cash woes?
Gautam Thakur: We have total 23 small co-operative Banks sponsored under the Sub-Membership Model of NPCI, which are providing digital products like RuPAY debit card, NEFT & RTGS payment channel, CTS & NACH for ECS & Cheques, ABPS for Aadhaar based payment systems.
During this financial year 43657 Rupay cards were issued, total 20.50 lakh transactions were conducted for a total value of Rs.713 crore by these banks.
Indian Cooperative: Is there any advice for RBI/Govt?
Gautam Thakur: We fully and whole- heartedly support the cashless initiative of the Government / Reserve Bank of India by promoting the same among our various stake holders.