(Image source from: Connected To India)
With an intent to aid overseas Indians to send money to their relatives back home, the State Bank of India (SBI) has launched its initial remittance outlet in Singapore.
Christened 'Ezy Remit', the center has been opened at a worker's dormitory at PPT Lodge in Punggol.
The outlet offers remittance services to India and Bangladesh accessible to all registered remittance customers of SBI. The customer can choose to debit his SBI account or pay via NETS (Network for Electronic Transfers) or cash to send money to India and Bangladesh.
The central objective of opening a remittance outlet at a dormitory is to reach out to the migrant workers and assist them to remit their money through banking channel.
India's High Commissioner to Singapore Jawed Ashraf inaugurated the remittance center. He observed that the opening of the center will cut down the worker's time to travel to main banks and branches in city areas.
Speaking on the occasion, Soma Sankara Prasad, SBI's Country Head of Singapore, said, "The opening of the remittance center is in line with the Singapore government's initiative of providing doorstep facilities for the workers living in dormitories."
"Construction and marine industry workers can remit to their homes in India and Bangladesh in rupee and taka, respectively," he added.
India has topped the list with USD 68 billion of remittance inflows last year, followed closely by China with USD 63.93 billion. Nowadays, the rupee remittances have become uncomplicated with online transactions and the spread of remittance points in Singapore.
There are multiple modes of money transfers in Singapore including Rupee Remittance App for Rupay-NETS which was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 31 during his visit to Singapore this year.
About 35 percent of the 285,000 construction workers in Singapore is from India.
Primarily, SBI was granted the qualifying full bank license in 2008 and has 6 subdivisions in Singapore. It has 25 ATMs (Automated teller machines) across the island.
SBI is India's premier banking group with assets of USD 500 billion. It has been expanding its foothold in both Indian and foreign operations with a network of more than 22500 branches in India and 205 offices worldwide spread across 35 geographies.
By Sowmya Sangam
