India’s largest bank, State Bank of India, teams up with India’s largest warship, INS Vikramaditya. The Indian Navy has a Memorandum of Understanding with the State Bank of India that operates Defence Salary Packages. This is the first-ever ATM machine inaugurated on board INS Vikramaditya.
About the ATM on-board Vikramaditya:
- The one-of-a-kind ATM machine was inaugurated by Rear Admiral K. J. Kumar, Flag Officer Commanding, Karnataka Naval Area and Rajnish Kumar, Managing Director and Group Executive (National Banking Group), State Bank of India (SBI), at a function at the naval base, Karwar.
- Captain Krishna Swaminathan, Commanding Officer of INS Vikramaditya said: “The ATM machine will add to the variety of other facilities and amenities available to the crew. It will enable personnel of the ship to manage their domestic financial requirements better and assist them in conducting their money transactions at their own convenience.”
- The facilities offered by the State Bank of India to the ship include cash withdrawals, generation of mini-statements, access to bank balance details and change of PIN numbers.
- With its over 1,500 personnel including 110 officers, INS Vikramaditya, can be considered as a full-fledged township by herself.
- In the near future, the facility will be upgraded to a recycler machine with a cash deposit facility. Additionally, facilities like cash transfer, card-to-card transfer, credit card payment, mobile number registration and updating would also be available.
- A Point of Sale (PoS) system will also be installed in the future on the warship and this “would go a long way in supporting cashless transactions on the ship, in line with the government’s policy of digitising the Indian economy”.
- The ATM belonging to the State Bank of India (SBI) will be operated through satellite link and the services will begin from Saturday evening.