UTI Bank opens collection counter at Commercial Tax office

By Our Staff Reporter

HYDERABAD, JUNE 25. The UTI Bank, which has been permitted by the State Government to handle collection of commercial taxes, will begin to do so from July 1. The extension counter of the bank, which will take up these operations, was opened at the premises of the Commercial Taxes Department (Exhibition Road), here on Monday by Mr. P.J. Nayak, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank.

Addressing presspersons after the inauguration, Mr. Nayak said it was the first new private sector bank to be involved in collection of money credited to the Treasury. This is in addition to the State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH), which also will continue to handle collections for the department, he said.

Mr. Nayak said UTI Bank's objective was to reduce the time span and ensure speedy credit of money to the Government. Collection of cheques through challan was taking a long time to reach the State Government, as it involved `multiple processes' - that is, the cheques travel through circle offices of Commercial Taxes Department to the divisional offices, etc.

The bank proposes to reduce this by `Telescoping the entire thing using a technology solution', and the MIS (Management Information System) making the entire thing floppy based. It developed a software package, which also helps the department to get statements of various types.

At the crux of the whole process are a set of encoders put up at the extension counter, which have the capacity to handle (clear) as many as 1,000 per hour each. The department sometimes gets a flow of 7,000 cheques a day. And encoders enable the bank to send all the cheques for clearing, the same day. However, for now, people will have to come to the extension counter to give their cheques - if they want to save time for the Government.

The bank is looking at other technology solutions like `Internet- based clearing', which will give access to people having an Internet. The bank already has Internet-based fund transfer facility between its own branches, called `iConnect'.

Mr. Nayak said it was also planning to `cable link' select offices of the Commercial Taxes Department, so that the department officials could see the latest collection position from any of these centres. It was also studying if other channels like ATMs could be used as collection points.

He clarified that the bank had not been guaranteed any volume of cheques, nor was it taking additional service charges from the Government. The bank, he said, could replicate the system for any other collection. It was also talking to two other State Governments for taking up Commercial Taxes collections, he said.

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Section  : Southern States
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