State Bank of India is planning to monetise its flagship digital banking platform YONO by allowing smaller lenders such as small finance banks and regional rural banks to use it, chairman Rajnish Kumar said.
The country’s largest bank may soon carve out the integrated digital platform into a separate entity. “The work has started,” the chairman said at a CII event on Tuesday.
Other lenders would need to connect with the YONO API (application programming interface) for using the platform.
Kumar had earlier said that YONO (You Only Need One) is a profitable platform with 2.7 crore users. He had said that YONO could have been valued at $40 billion had a valuation been done. The platform was launched in November 2017.
SBI onboarded about 29 lakh customers on this platform in the first quarter of this fiscal. It has seen around three million transactions in the same period. The bank also opened three pilot YONO branches.
About 93% of the bank’s total transactions now take place through alternate channels.
In a separate context on debt restructuring, Kumar said that there has so far no rush for availing of the facility. “I don’t find any clamour or rush for loan restructuring.
But the situation may change if the recovery takes longer than expected, he said, adding that the aviation, hospitality and shopping malls are facing difficulties and cash flow issues. “The real estate sector which has been struggling for the last five years, has seen their pain aggravated,” he added.
