State Bank of India (SBI), savings account, public provident fund (PPF), charges, services

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State Bank of India (SBI) is the largest public sector bank in India . SBI has branches and ATMs all over India , details of which are available at their website. State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Saurashtra, State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur ,State Bank of Indore, State Bank of Mysore and State Bank of Travancore are the seven subsidary banks of SBI. As of March 2006, SBI holding in these banks varies from 74% to 100% , but is likely to decrease in future. SBI has one of the largest network of ATMs in the Asia Pacific region. Many branches of State Bank of India are computerised. In places where the Reserve Bank of India, (RBI) the central bank of India does have an office, SBI carries out many of its functions. SBI timings vary according to location, for example the Powai, Mumbai branch of State Bank of India is open between 10.15 am to 2pm (Monday-Friday)

You can open a public provident fund (PPF) account at any State Bank of India branch. PPF accounts are one of the few savings instruments which offer a high tax free interest rate of 8% per year. All deposits made on or before 5th of a month earn interest for the entire month. If you deposit a cheque in your PPF account on the 5th of the month, you will get interest for the month, though your account may be debited at a later date. The interest is credited to the account at the end of the accounting year in India.

If you know an agent who is registered with that particular branch of State Bank , he will pay you back, a part of the commission he receives from the bank. So you can get back 0.5% - 0.6% of the amount deposited immediately by cash. Usually larger the amount, the higher the commission paid back by the agent (it is negotiable) . The pay-in slip for PPF has 3 sections - depositors copy, agents copy and bank copy. The agents copy has to be given to the agent and he will give part of the commission. Earlier financial services firm like Bluechip in Mumbai, would also give a commission of 0.25% , but they have stopped in the last 2 years.

The minimum amount that can be invested in one year is Rs 500 and maximum amount is Rs 70000. This investment has a lock in period of 15 years. No withdrawals are allow till 6 years after account opening and one withdrawal is allowed per year there after. It offers rebate under section 80C and the interest is tax free under section 10C.

For cash withdrawals, you can either use a withdrawal slip or cheque. If an account is inactive for a long time, State Bank of India does not charge any fee for reactivation. However, they have a verification process, which may take a long time. Payment of income tax , advance tax , sales tax can be done at SBI branches. Foreign currency drafts can also be obtained at the branches. Since SBI offers a variety of banking services, their branches are usually very crowded.

State Bank of India has increase home loan interest rates by 25-75 basis points. Also no fixed rate loans will be available for periods more than 10 years. These changes have come into effect from March 1, 2006.

SBI Railway Visa Card allows booking of railway tickets online at the Indian Railways website at zero transaction charges. Users of this credit card can get back up to 10% of ticket fare as railway points. These points can be redeemed later, like frequent flyer miles offered by airlines. State Bank of India is the largest issuer of debit cards (Maestro) in India

State Bank customers who have to wait a long time to process a bank transaction can register their complaint through a touch screen device for customer feedback service at the branch. The information is recorded and processed in the central server. As of March 2006, it is implemented in 10 branches of SBI in Mumbai

When SBI employees go on strike, the Reserve Bank of India takes over all clearing operations. However, banking operations are affected since SBI has nearly 30% of the total customers of banks in India. Cheques/DD drawn on SBI were not cleared due to the strike. All government taxes like income tax, sales tax, service tax can be paid at any branch of SBI.

State Bank of India has 52 foreign offices in 34 countries including Australia, UK, USA, Canada, Bahrain, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan Sri Lanka. These are useful for foreign trade transactions like opening of Letter of Credit

Foreign Branches of State Bank of India with address, phone number, email and SWIFT code

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