Swift banking: SBI overdraft facility goes online

MUMBAI: State Bank of India Tuesday launched an online service to avail overdraft facility against fixed deposit, which can be obtained at the click of a computer mouse without visiting bank branches.

“Customers holding fixed deposits in a single name can now avail of up to 90% of the FD amount as an overdraft to meet emergency and other needs,” the banking behemoth said in a release.

As an introductory offer, SBI is charging an interest rate of only half a percent more than the linked FD. This means, if your FD offers you 8.50%, you will be charged 9% for the overdraft facility.

This is among the lowest in the industry, the bank said.

Although the bank sells the core overdraft product through its all branches, the online facility is seen as SBI’s constant focus on digital banking. The bank has been trying to standardize its online banking services since last few years on par with private sector lenders like ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank.

The service is now available to all SBI internet banking users through the bank portal. The lender plans to extend the same service to the State Bank Anywhere mobile application in futures.