Tag: Kerala Bank

Wipro bags tech transformation engagement from Kerala State Co-op Bank, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

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New Delhi, Oct 27 (PTI) IT firm Wipro on Wednesday said it has secured a multi-year contract from Kerala State Co-operative Bank (also known as Kerala Bank). Kerala Bank currently runs 15 different core banking environments with five core banking solutions.

“As part of this multi-million-dollar strategic engagement, Wipro will implement a consolidated, common core banking system for the bank, provide over 20 allied solutions, aimed at streamlining technology adoption and enabling a superior customer experience,” a statement said.

Wipro will also set up a Data Centre, Disaster Recovery Centre, Near DR (Disaster Recovery) and command centre, implement the latest Reserve Bank of India cybersecurity frameworks, and provide facility management services for five years, it added.

“We see IT modernisation as the key driver for achieving business transformation and growth. An integrated IT landscape comprising of best-in-class Core Banking and allied solutions will not only enable seamless information flow but will also help achieve high performance and scalability in our operations,” Rajesh AR, GM (IT and Digital Banking) at Kerala Bank, said.

Wipro is currently engaged with over 100 DCCBs across 12 states in India. Wipro has consolidated its position across all Banking segments in India, including Schedule Commercial Banks, Regional Rural Banks, Co-operative Banks and the latest Small Finance and Payment Banks.

“Wipro has been engaged with Kerala Bank and is providing core banking services to multiple District Co-operative Central Banks (DCCB) for many years. This extensive experience uniquely positions us to deliver this complex programme, which redefines customer experience while ensuring security for clients of Kerala Bank,” Wipro Head – BFSI India (SRE) Sanjay Jaireth said.

In a separate statement, Wipro said it is partnering with Micro Focus to launch the Legacy Migration and Modernisation Lab, collaborating with Amazon Web Services (AWS).

This lab, hosted at Wipro’s AWS Launchpad in Parramatta, Australia, will allow companies in Australia and New Zealand to experience a hands-on demonstration of tools and accelerators that can help optimise mainframe application capabilities for the cloud, it added.

The lab combines the strengths and technical expertise of Wipro, Micro Focus, and AWS to help customers become agile, reduce operational costs and mitigate application-modernisation risks to enable a cloud-ready IT ecosystem, the statement said.

These advanced capabilities will also help companies innovate faster and drive better business results, it added.

In addition, the lab will serve as a training ground for testing mainframe app-modernisation scenarios, allowing businesses to conduct training, and demonstrate proof of concepts in real-time. PTI SR BAL BAL



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Kerala Bank seeks RBI nod to collect NRI deposits

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Kerala Bank has sought the permission of the Reserve Bank of India to collect deposits from NRI’s, eyeing the ₹1,50,000,000 crore NRI deposits credited to various commercial and PSU and private sector banks in the State.

V N Vasavan, the State Cooperation Minister, pointed out that a major share of this NRI deposit amount is being utilised for disbursing loans to big corporates outside the State and in speculative businesses in stock markets. Kerala Bank is aiming to utilise these NRI deposits for developing the basic infrastructure of the State.

The bank will provide an opportunity for non-resident Keralites to be part of the development of the State and to intervene in its economy, he added.

IT integration programme

The Minister was speaking to reporters after launching the IT integration programme, thereby transforming the bank into a modern bank providing all digital banking services.

Finacle software from Infosys will be used for core banking initiatives. With this, Kerala Bank will become the first cooperative bank in the country to use the most modern version of Finacle. Wipro has taken charge of the software unification and IT integration is expected to be completed by April 1, 2022.

Model cooperative bank

Kerala Bank, which is formed as a model to the entire country in the cooperative banking sector through the merger of 13 DCB’s, has grown to the position of the second largest bank in the State with total business of ₹1,06,396 crore and 769 branches. The bank has been able to disburse ₹842.54 crore so far for employment schemes, as part of the 100 days action programme of the State Government, said P S Rajan, the CEO of the bank.

The bank has been able to post a growth of 9.27 per cent in deposits for the first full financial year (2020–21) after its formation. The deposits rose from ₹61,071 crore to ₹66,731 crore. The net profit for the year 2020–21 was ₹61.99 crore.

Also see: Approval for the seventh phase of Rubber Production Incentive Scheme

The bank has been able to bring down its NPA from above 25 per cent at the time of the merger to 14.40 per cent. As of last fiscal, NPA stood at ₹5,738 crore. The accumulated loss during the merger was ₹1,151 crore and the bank could bring it down to ₹714 crore.

It has also made significant progress in providing a refinance scheme through NABARD. The refinance facility, which was ₹4,315 crore in 2019–20 shot up to ₹6,058 crore in 2020–21. The increase was 40.39 per cent.

Capital to risk (weighted) assets ratio (CRAR), which was the major indicator of financial stability, was 6.26 per cent at the time of merger. This has increased to 10.18 per cent now. The RBI insists only on a CRAR of 9 per cent. The bank was able to scale up CRAR riding on the ₹400 crore share investments by Kerala Government.

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Digitization will be over in 3 months, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Thiruvananthapuram: The digitization work at Kerala Bank will be completed in three months. Once that is over, Kerala Bank would be able to offer all services offered by new-generation banks to their customers.

Kerala Bank has already disbursed agri loans worth Rs 2,648 crore from April to August. The bank also recorded an increase of Rs 5,658 crore in cash deposits during that period. The bank’s performance was reviewed at a meeting chaired by cooperation minister VN Vasavan on Wednesday.

There was a Rs 387.95 crore decrease in its non-performing assets. The bank’s NPA stood at 14.7% of the total loans disbursed, said an official statement from the office of the minister.

The bank, during the last quarter, carried out business worth Rs 1,06,397 crore. The revenue of the bank increased to Rs 61.96 crore during the period. Till March 31, 2021, Kerala Bank gave loans to the tune of Rs 5,295 crore. This showed an annual increase of Rs 507 crore. The agri loans that had earlier been offered at an interest rate of 7% is now given at 6%.

Even during the pandemic, Kerala Bank sanctioned Rs 2,000 crore to primary cooperative societies as a liquidity fund. The review meeting also decided to give loans, up to Rs 60 lakh, in the food processing industry at a lower interest rate. Subsidy up to 35% or Rs 10 lakh would be given for such loans.

The bank is already giving low-interest loans to gulf-returnees, farmers, medium/small scale industrial units. The bank also decided to launch new attractive deposit schemes that would be useful to a cross section of the society. Kerala Bank is fast completing the facilities and arrangements insisted by RBI.



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DBT, no common IFSC for Kerala Bank cause delay, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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A combination of two factors, the Centre’s decision to disburse crop insurance claims under direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode and delay in Kerala Bank getting its own IFSC code, are delaying the delivery of insurance claims of about 20,000 farmers across the state.

About Rs 21 crore to be disbursed to farmers as insurance claims for 2019-20 was returned by the insurance company as the farmers were unable to submit their account numbers and matching IFSC codes. Claims of Rs 70 crore are pending for 2020-21.

The farmers were getting compensation for crop loss due to adverse weather or other factors under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY). Most farmers (60-80%) have their accounts in primary agriculture cooperative societies (PACS). Earlier, the farmers were made to open mirror accounts in district cooperative banks (DCBs), and agriculture insurance company (AIC) of India was allocating the lumpsum amount of the total claims from a district to the DCB there. The DCB would then transfer the claim amount to the farmers through the mirror accounts. The DCBs were then giving utilisation certificates to AIC .

However, with Centre’s decision to enforce DBT, indirect transfer of insurance claim amounts became impossible. While trying to upload the claims in the DBT portal, the farmers submitted their account number in PACS and the district cooperative bank’s IFSC code. However, their claims bounced as these two data did not match. The compensation to farmers has not been disbursed for the last two years, said K K Kochumuhammed, president of Kole Karshaka Sangam.

Besides, Kerala Bank, formed by merging 13 DCBs, was yet to get a common IFSC code. “Once our software integration is over we will get a common IFSC code. We have requested AIC to retain the earlier practice till then, and clear the pending claims,” said Anita Abraham, DGM, Kerala Bank.

“We had a video conference on Thursday with Union agriculture ministry officials, and requested them to defer DBT implementation till the amalgamation process of DBCs and Kerala Bank are completed, and they have responded positively,” said George Alexander, additional director of agricultural department.



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