Five new ATMs of the State Bank of Travancore (SBT) were inaugurated electronically by Dr. Debashis Bannerjee, Director of the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode (IIMK) on Friday at a function in Hotel Fortune, Kozhikode.
Dr. Bannerjee pressed a button that lit a lamp and signalled the inauguration of the ATMs that were situated several kilometres away in Malappuram, Wayanad and in an interior part of Kozhikode district.
A. K. Jaganathan, Managing Director of SBT, who was present at the inaugural function, remarked that the method by which the ATMs were inaugurated was in tune with the technological advances achieved by the bank.
The ATMs that were inaugurated on Friday are in Kolagappara in Wayanad, Kakkattil in Kozhikode and Kooriyar, Tirur and Cherukavu in Malappuram district.
SBT’s mobile banking services also became operational in Kozhikode on Friday.
Mr. Jaganathan said that SBT would strengthen its operations in northern districts because its services were very much in demand in the region and because of the importance of north Kerala for banks on account of a strong presence of NRIs.
He also said SBT’s combo card meant for students had already become popular as it could be used as an identity card, library card, as well as to make payments to Calicut University and to withdraw money from ATMs.
Answering questions at a press conference later, the SBT Managing Director assured farmers that there would not be any restrictions in granting agricultural loans in Wayanad this year.
The needs of farmers were being studied to find out the exact requirement of loans that had to be disbursed.
Under the Centre’s agricultural loan waiver scheme Rs.320 crore was written off by SBT last year.
