Customers of public sector banks (PSB) can vail of doorstep banking for a nominal fee as major government banks have come together to form PSB Alliance to jointly offer customers important banking services, including financial and non-financial services.

According to the website Psbdsb.in, the banks have engaged Atyati Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and Integra Microsystem Pvt Ltd to provide doorstep banking through universal touchpoints. The service is available in 100 major centres across states.

What is PSB Alliance?

PSB Alliance is an umbrella setup of all Public Sector Banks, jointly offering important customer-oriented services envisaged by Govt. of India under EASE of Banking reforms. Doorstep Banking is one such initiative taken by PSB Alliance through which customers can avail major Banking transaction services at their doorstep. 

Service offered by PSB Alliance:

Among financial services, customers can avail of cash withdrawal using the DSP app or its web portal or by calling a toll-free number. You can avail yourself of DSB facilities for any of the 12 listed public sector banks. For this, the customer’s bank account number must be linked to Aadhaar, or an individual can also use his or her bank debit card. The agent will provide service through micro-ATM. The minimum and maximum transaction limit are Rs 1,000 and Rs 10,000, respectively.

In the current pandemic situation, it is difficult for customers, especially pensioners to visit the branch for the Submission of Life Certificate. PSB Alliance has also brought the submission of digital life certificate facility through Doorstep Banking. Pensioners may book the service through any of channel i.e. DSB App / Web Portal / Toll-Free Numbers. DSB Agent will visit the doorstep of the customer and collect online Life Certificate using Jeevan Pramaan App.

There are 10 non-financial services a customer can avail of, including pick up of cheque, new chequebook request, delivery of account statement, pick up of form 15G or 15H. Customers can submit digital life certificates through doorstep banking. DSB Agent will visit the doorstep of the customer and collect online life certificates using Jeevan Pramaan App.

Here’s what you must keep in mind before availing PSB Alliance’s doorstep banking facilities:

1. Limited nature of the service: Most banks restrict the availability of these doorstep banking services to within a maximum radius of 5km from the home branch. The services are restricted to banking hours, and the bank may not be able to provide same-day services, especially if the requests are raised after 3pm,” said Shetty.

2. Charges: Remember that these doorstep services are not complimentary meaning they carry additional service charges. Different banks may also charge differently for these services. For instance, if cheque pickup and delivery are charged Rs 75 by one bank, another bank could charge Rs 100 for the same. Cash pickup and delivery charges may also vary from bank to bank depending on the amount.

3. KYC compliance: One must consider that there may be account restrictions in availing of these services. The services are provided only to fully KYC-compliant accounts. Generally, these services are targeted at senior citizens, and account holders who do not fall into this category may have to satisfy other additional criteria such as a higher minimum balance in their savings or current account to access these services.

It is worth noting that you have to seed (link) your mobile number with your Bank account in order to avail the service. As per the website, the customer of Joint Account having their mobile number linked to the account can also avail the DSB facility provided the Account Operation mandate is “Either or Survivor”/”Any One or Survivor”. You can cancel any Service request even after initiation of the Request.

If you are a customer of different public sector banks with the same primary phone number, you can use multiple services of different banks at the same time. Once the agent deposits the instruments with the designated bank branch, the DSB system will validate the service code of the customer and trigger a message “completed”, which will be notified to the customer through mobile app.

Identifying the DSB agent:

To identify a DSB agent, you must check his credentials along with a photo in the respective bank mobile app or web portal. Also, check the logo of DSB on his respective bank’s uniform. Also, you will get an SMS having the agent’s name who is going to visit your place. 

Confirm the name with the agent. You can also ask for his identity card for verification purposes. Additionally, you will get a one-time authorization code on your mobile phone for each service. You need to share this code with the agent assigned to you to initiate the service.

If requests are generated up to 3:00 PM, the agent will attend to it the same business day. For request generated after this time, the agent will complete it the next business day. 

Before this alliance, each PSB engaged different banking correspondents for doorstep banking services. According to the official PSB Alliance website, 12 public sectors are part of the alliance, including Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Bank of Maharashtra, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, State Bank of India and Union Bank of India.