With gold prices nearing all-time highs, private sector lender Axis Bank is exploring an option to sell silver bars or coins. According to the bank?s retail banking president Sonu Bhasin, customers are now almost shying away from gold given the rising prices and may prefer investing in silver instead.
?We find that customers who were buying, say, 50-gm gold are buying only 20 gm today. So we are getting some feedback from customers in regard to their preference for silver bars. If the response is encouraging, we hope to be able to offer a product soon,? Bhasin said. Axis Bank saw a 60% growth in its gold coins sales year-on-year in 2009-10.
Last month, the country?s second largest private sector lender, HDFC Bank, started selling silver bars across several of its branches. The bank initiated selling 50-gm silver bars and if the response is good, will sell other denominations in the future.
Meanwhile, Axis Bank is hoping to grow its retail deposit base by offering additional services aimed at different class of customers, such as senior citizens, women, defense personnel and policemen. At the end of March 2010, the bank?s deposit base stood at Rs 1.4 lakh crore, of which around 47% was in the form of current and savings accounts. The bank has 13 million account holders.
The bank, together with its insurance partner Bajaj Alliance, is also planning to introduce a healthcare product, including maternity benefits. It would comply with guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank of India. ?We hope to launch it in next two months,? said Bhasin. He, however, refused to disclose any details.
Axis Bank, which has a large number of account holders from the defense services, recently allowed them to operate two debit cards per account. ?An army personnel, posted in a remote place can use one debit card while his wife living in his native place can use another card. It facilitates the transfer of money from the earning member to his family,?explained Bhasin.
On similar lines, the lender has issued an identity card for senior citizens having accounts in the bank. The card carries the name, age, address and contact number of an account holder who is, in most cases, a retired person. Moreover, financial statements are issued in larger font sizes so as to make them more legible.