Mumbai, March 9 (IANS) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has inaugurated 70 branches of State Bank of India (SBI) and 501 women’s customer service centers. This will help in increasing the reach of people to banking services.
The Finance Minister said that the inauguration of new women’s customer service centers on International Women’s Day reflects SBI’s commitment to promote women’s financial freedom across the country.
He said that these service centers will increase the reach of banking services to the end and will empower women to actively contribute to India’s economic growth.
The Finance Minister said, “SBI remains a reliable banking partner for more than 51 crore customers, which is more than the population of many countries and it reflects the deep commitment of the bank for economic progress in all income groups.”
He further stated that SBI serves around 5.6 percent of the global population as one of the world’s largest commercial banks. This shows the competitiveness capacity of the bank.
The Finance Minister further continued to target major areas to make banking services more accessible to the deprived communities in this financial year.
SBI said in a statement that the inauguration of branches in villages such as Pughofoto in Nagaland, Itamati in Odisha, Chullimanur in Kerala, Palasamudram in Andhra Pradesh and Chinnambavi in Telangana are proof of the bank’s commitment to financial inclusion.
The statement said, “Increasing its scope further, the bank opened around 100 branches in the third quarter of FY 25, leading to more than 22,800 branches. In addition, SBI has a strong network of 78,023 customer service centers (CSPs).”
-IANS
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