Do you have Net Banking and check up your balance now !

In the vast land of India, anywhere you go – whether you find a petrol bunk or not, you are most likely to see a branch of State Bank of India – the giant in banking sector.  They have closer ten thousand branches and hundreds more of their associate banks.   SBI has its origin dating back to the  first decade of the nineteenth century with the establishment of the Bank of Calcutta in Calcutta in 1806.  Bank of Bombay, Bank of Madras and Bank of Bengal all amalgamated as  the Imperial Bank of India in  1921.  subsequently they became ‘State Bank of India’.

SBI is in news not for the of Rs 6,000-8,000 crore capital infusion that it is going to have by March 12.  The Ministry has approved as also the Planning Commiossion.  The bank alreadh has an adequate capital adequacy ratio (CAR) .  The Bank proposes to raise 20000 crore through rights issue to fund its growth plans over the next two fiscals.

No doubt almost all of us carry an ATM card and most of us transact online – net banking.  Do you check your balances regularly and do you get SMS intimation everytime you get a debit or credit over specified amount ?  -  What would be your reaction, if you find some suspicious activity in your banking account……………..  there may not be ready made answers. 

Few months back, a Banking official described me of an occasion when notes were kept in wrong tray in an ATM in a remote area.  The ATM is no human and it only dispenses the nos. / denominations preset from the tray. Thus if currency note of Rs.1000/- were to be kept in 100s tray – for a withdrawal of 1000 it would dispense 10 notes of 1000 and contrarily if you withdraw 20,000/- - it would dispense 19 X 100 and 10 X 1000 : a total of 11900/- ?   Understand from Bank officials that people tend to withdraw money at one stroke and close their account, if any wrong credit is given and then it would be the responsibility of the Official to either collect back the money or pay the money by self – both of which would have a bad remark in their career besides the monetary loss. 

Mistakes can happen but not at this magnitude as reported in BBC - An Indian teacher got the shock of his life when he checked his bank account online and found 490bn rupees ($9.8bn).  Parijat Saha expected his balance to be $200 and could not believe his eyes - but a check at an ATM confirmed his billionaire status, on paper at least.

 Parajit Saha (photo from bbc.co.uk)

The honest Mr Saha rang the State Bank of India (SBI) to point out the error.  Red-faced bank officials would not comment, but sources say the funds were "uncleared" and he could not have withdrawn the money if he had tried.  Mr Saha's monthly salary as a school teacher in the eastern state of West Bengal is 35,000 rupees ($700). But his account balance of $9.8bn is closer to India's annual education budget of $11.5bn.  

$9.8billion is equivalent to  Rs.50489 crores !!!!!!!!!!  Million is 10 lakhs and billion is 100 crores – One Billion in Nos. would be Rs.1,000,000,000/-

Mr Saha was reported as saying that when he was checking his SB a/c balance on the Internet, he expected an amount little more than 10,000 rupees ($200),"  but thought it was a joke to see so may zeroes in his account.   Mr Saha, lives in the town of Balurghat in South Dinajpur district.    BCC reports puts that Subhashish Karmakar, chief manager of the bank's branch in Balurghat, declined to speak about the source of the funds or how the money got into Mr Saha's account.  "I have been specifically asked not to comment on this issue," he told the BBC.  The bank's regional headquarters in Calcutta and national headquarters in Mumbai have been alerted and officials are trying to figure out what went wrong, sources in the bank say.

Meanwhile honest  Saha says withdrew  $200 from his account that belonged to him.  "Even though I got my money back, the account still holds the billions of dollars as uncleared amount. I don't know how long I'll have to keep that astronomical figure in my account."

Don’t be surprised if there is a Queue in front of the local branch of State Bank of India to open a Savings Bank Account immediately today.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-16607018