State Bank of India leads mobile banking space with 50% share

18th September, 2014

State Bank of India leads mobile banking space with 50% share
The bank has over 1.15 crore registered mobile banking users

The State Bank of India (SBI), country’s largest commercial bank, generates about 50% of mobile banking transactions according to RBI Data. SBI, with over 1.15 crore registered mobile banking customers, has become the undisputable market leader in this segment and way ahead of the nearest competitor in the market.

As of now, SBI’s user base for mobile banking is around 4.5% of total retail customer base. The bank expects a rapid growth in the user base reaching around 10%-12% of the total retail customer base by the end of 2 years and around 30%-35% of the total retail customer base in 3-5 years. Mobile banking services of SBI can be availed by the customers irrespective of the mobile handsets used by them.

Smt. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, State Bank of India said, “India has just witnessed the launch of message-banking. We are confident that once this is understood by people, there will be an explosion of banking activities in the mobile space. This is what the future of banking holds".

SBI has been aggressive about migration of customers to direct channels and mobile banking service is an important part of this strategy. At present, customers can access the bank through "State Bank Anywhere" - the bank's Smartphone app which is integrated with Internet banking. The service which is expected to be used by the masses is "State Bank Freedom", which can be accessed by all kinds of phones.

“Mobile banking will also play a large part in the role of the yet-to-be-launched payment banks with which SBI plans to have tie-ups”, Smt. Bhattacharya added. The aggressive promotion of alternative channels is part of SBI's strategy to decongest branches, which is expected to increase as the bank has opened over 1.5 crore new accounts under the Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana.

About State Bank of India

State Bank of India (SBI), with a 208 year history, is the largest commercial bank in India in terms of assets, deposits, profits, branches, consumers and employees. The Government of India is the single largest shareholder of this Fortune 500 entity with 58.60% ownership.

The origins of State Bank of India date back to 1806 when the Bank of Calcutta (later called the Bank of Bengal) was established. In 1921, the Bank of Bengal and two other banks (Bank of Madras and Bank of Bombay) were amalgamated to form the Imperial Bank of India. In 1955, the Reserve Bank of India acquired the controlling interests of the Imperial Bank of India and SBI was created by an Act of Parliament to succeed the Imperial Bank of India.

The State Bank Group consists of SBI and five associate banks. The group has an extensive network; with over 20,000 plus branches in India and another 190 foreign offices spread over 36 countries across the world. As of 31st March 2014, the group had assets worth Rs. 23,95,981 crores, deposits of Rs. 18,38,852 Crores and capital & reserves in excess of Rs. 1,47,371 crores. The group commands over 23% share of the domestic Indian banking market.