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Citibank Suvidha's Mumbai launch

Our Bureau

MUMBAI, July 3

CITIBANK India launched Citibank Suvidha, a banking service targeted at salaried customers, in Mumbai today.

Following the Mumbai launch, Citibank plans to roll out the service at its branches nationally.

Citibank Suvidha is a 24-hour bank account, requiring an average minimum balance of Rs. 1,000 per month. According to company officials, the service is convenient for both corporates and salaried individuals, whose day-to-day banking needs are constraine d by limitations on their time, place and access.

The Suvidha service was first launched in Bangalore in 1998, where the bank now has 600 corporate clients, 1,40,000 customers and 44 ATMs.

The service takes care of corporates' salary payments and reimbursements, which are directly credited to their employees' Citibank Suvidha accounts.

Addressing a press conference, the Chief Executive Officer, Citibank India, Mr. Nanoo G. Pamnani, said: ``Citibank Suvidha is a part of our embedded bank strategy to broadbase our offerings in India, especially towards the salaried segment. The service a lso allows us to offer salaried customers the facility to do their personal banking through multiple channels such as the ATM, debit cards, over the phone and on the Internet.''

Citibank's customers in Mumbai will also receive

personalised cheque books, free ATM cards which double up as debit cards with no annual fee and access to Citibank's Citiphone Banking and CitiDirect Internet Banking free of cost.

Citibank Suvidha customers will be able to use their ATM cards at any one of the bank's 190 ATMs (including shared Swadhan and Cirrus Networks) in the city, while the debit card will be accepted at 1,000 merchant outlets. The debit card can also be used in over 100 countries across 5,00,000 ATMs for shopping at 5 million outlets, for a one-time international activation fee of Rs. 250.

Mr. Pamnani said it had taken two years for the Suvidha

service to break even in Bangalore. A similar timeframe was expected for the service to break even in Mumbai. Since, the service would need more infrastructure and technology in Mumbai, profits may take sometime to begin flowing, he said.

Mr. Pamnani said he expects a customer base of 1.50 lakh in Mumbai in the first year.