SBI’s NDMB opens over 13K FCRA accounts

Odisha Taza News ( 18 May , Tuesday ) New Delhi :- The New Delhi Main Branch (NDMB) of country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI) has opened 13729 Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act (FCRA) accounts till date. This branch was designated to open FCRA accounts by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in October 2020. Out of the total 22598 active FCRA Associations, 17611 entities (NGOs and Associations) approached SBI for opening of FCRA Accounts. The bank has already opened accounts of 78% of the applicants. The rest of the accounts shall also be initiated once their pending documentation formalities are completed. SBI in co-ordination with MHA and Department of Financial Services (DFs) also devised a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to open and operate the FCRA Account, which is available on bank’s website and FCRAONLINE – an e-governance initiative by MHA. Further the NDMB of SBI conducted as many as 28 webinars to prepare and guide FCRA Associations about opening of FCRA Accounts. All the SBI branches are authorized to receive Account Opening Application from FCRA Associations. The branches submit those forms and documents to the NDMB through email. In many cases the documentation was conducted in multiple branches to enable signatories at different locations. With SBI’s robust network of branches, functionaries of FCRA Associations can process their account opening formalities from their nearest SBI branch without having to visit the NDMB.

Apart from the local SBI branches, the Associations active under the FCRA, can call or email FCRA Cell at bank’s New Delhi Main Branch at 011-23374213, 143, 390, 392 and fcra.00691@sbi.co.in respectively. The Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2020 was introduced in Lok Sabha on September 20, 2020. The Act regulates the acceptance and utilisation of foreign contribution by individuals, associations and companies. Also a new provision – that makes it mandatory for all non-government organisations and associations to receive foreign funds in a designated bank account (SBI’s New Delhi Main Branch) – was inserted. About State Bank of India: State Bank of India is the largest commercial bank in terms of assets, deposits, branches, customers, and employees. It is also the largest mortgage lender in the country. The home loan portfolio of the bank has crossed the milestone of Rs. 5 lakh crore. The bank has auto loan book of Rs. 75,937 crore, as on December 31, 2020, the bank has a deposit base of over Rs. 35 lakh crore and advances of more than Rs. 26 lakh crore with CASA ratio of about 45%. SBI commands over 34% market share in home loans and around 33% in the auto loans segment. The Bank has largest network of more than 22,000 branches in India with an ATM / CDM network of nearly 58,000 and total BC outlets of over 71,000. The number of customers using internet banking and mobile banking stand at 85 million and 19 million respectively. The integrated digital and lifestyle platform by SBI – YONO has crossed 74 million downloads mark. YONO which has over 34.5 million registered users, witnesses 9 million logins per day. Accelerating the digital agenda, SBI has opened over 1.5 million accounts through YONO in the quarter ended December 2020 with nearly 91% of YONO eligible savings bank customers migrated on YONO. In terms of digital lending, bank disbursed pre-approved personal loan (PAPL) worth Rs. 5300 crore via YONO in the same quarter. YONO is also a global name having tasted its success in international markets as well. On social media platforms, SBI has the highest number of followers on Facebook and Twitter amongst all banks worldwide.