Introduction
Banking has undergone a radical transformation. Not long ago, from a customer perspective, banking was a pain due to numerous factors such as long queues at the bank’s branches, bank holidays and so on. These factors acted as constraints to have a pleasant banking experience. Nowadays in this new age, banking has indeed become a pleasure. Gone are the winding queues behind a row of tellers. Gone is the busy hum of a traditional bank branch. What a remarkable turnaround! Thanks to the technology for that.

Bank of Maharashtra, established in Pune in 1935, has been adopting new banking technology for more than 2 decades and has the state of the art technology to serve its about 14 million customers through its 1570 branches and 500 ATMs across India.

Bank is ISO 27001:2005 certified from DNV, an international certification agency for its Information Technology division establishing that its various departments, namely, Data Centre, Core Banking Solution Project Office, Disaster Recovery Centre and Central Office IT Department have complied with the international standards for security capabilities relating to processes, policies, practices and infrastructure. This distinction is achieved by only a few banks in India.

Banking Services
The plethora of banking services now include receiving deposits from public, giving loans/advances to them, particularly selling financial products, paying utility bills, payment of taxes, etc for their customers.

Bank has specially designed loan products for students for studies in India and abroad. Bank has also attractive deposit schemes to inculcate habit of saving among the students, namely, Yuva Yojana (SB account) and Mahasaraswati (RD account).

Bank has specialised branches for MSMEs, Mid Corporates, SHGs (Self Help Groups) Pensioners and Senior Citizens to meet their banking needs.

ATM and its potential
Nowadays the ATMs are themselves turning into quasi banks, as they offer value-added services in addition to the mundane cash withdrawals and deposits. Services such as mobile recharge facility, utility bill payments, insurance premium payments, payment of tax and payment of donations to temples are growing in numbers. Many of the routine banking operations, such as cash transactions and checking the statement of account can be done through ATMs.
 
Bank of Maharashtra has an average ATM hit of over 240 transactions per day in its network of 500 ATMs. The Bank has implemented the facility for payment of tax through any of their ATMs.

Customer Centric Services
Now, a bank customer could perform his/her banking transactions at his/her own convenient time through Internet Banking and Phone Banking and need not depend on the branch’s working hours. The technology has literally brought banking to the customer’s doorsteps.

Bank of Maharashtra’s IT based products include Internet Banking, Mobile Banking and phone banking facilities. The unique facility of viewing Form 26AS (Tax Credit statement from Income Tax Authorities website) is made available to all its Internet Banking customers (PAN number should have been registered with the Bank).

Plastic Money and its Power
Plastic money has changed the way people look at money. If credit and debit cards have made cash redundant, co-branded cards are changing the customers’ spending patterns and lifestyle. The benefits from these cards range from earning frequent flyer miles and free talk time to waiver on fuel surcharge.
 
Credit cards can also be used to contribute money to a worthy cause. For this one needs a card that has a tie-up with a non-profit making non-governmental organization.

Bank of Maharashtra provides VISA international credit card to its customers which is a co branded card with SBI Cards.

One-Stop-Shop
Bank has become a one-stop shop for selling products such as insurance policies, mutual funds, RBI bonds, open PPF accounts and offer services such as payment of utility bills and online share trading etc.

Blend of Human and Technology
No service is complete without human touch which indeed fortifies the relationship between the bank and its esteemed customers. Hence, apart from providing services through its various technology-driven delivery channels such as ATM, Internet Banking, Phone Banking, Mobile Banking and so on and so forth, the bank has also retained its traditional mode of servicing its customers through their employees in branches so that the customers continue to feel that they are personally attended to and duly cared for.

BANK OF MAHARASHTRA’s SERVICES AT A GLANCE
Bank of Maharashtra has harnessed the potential of technology to the maximum extent and provides the following services:

• •	All branches of the Bank under CBS, including branches of Maharashtra Gramin Bank, the RRB sponsored by the Bank
•	Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, Phone Banking and SMS Banking Facilities
•	RTGS/NEFT (Inter-Bank fund transfer) through branches and internet banking
•	E Payment of Taxes
•	E-FD facility (Facility for opening and closing of Term Deposit account through internet banking)
•	MAHAeTRADE (Online Share Trading Facility)
•	Mahabill Pay (Utility bill payment through bank accounts)
•	Universal Bill Pay (Utility bill payment through internet banking without the need to visit any biller sites)
•	Estatement – Facility to receive statement of account through e-mail id registered with the bank at various frequencies such as daily, weekly, monthly, etc
•	Facility to view the tax credit statement AS26 through internet banking
•	SMS Alert facility for all transactions in the customers’ accounts with the Bank
•	ATM Services – VISA International Debit Card
•	SBI-BOM International Credit Card
•	DEMAT Services
•	Capital Market Application (ASBA - Application Supported by Blocked Amount) - An Investor friendly way to apply for Primary markets & Keep earning interest without parting your money until stocks are allotted.
•	Bancassurance (Tie-up with insurance companies)
•	Mahabank Swasthya Yojana (Health Insurance Product in tie-up arrangement with United India Insurance Co. Ltd)
•	Distribution of Mutual Funds
•	Executors and Trustee Services
•	Maha-e-sava – a 24 X 7 Customer Care Information Centre

Conclusion
The existing cutthroat competition in the banking industry has resulted in exploitation of the technology to the fullest. This has in turn yielded rich dividends for both the banks and their customers. The latter are able to perform transactions with incredible ease and thus the former are able to provide customer delight whereby the business gets increased by leaps and bounds.
Bank of Maharashtra is keeping in tune with the trends of technology developments in serving and delighting millions of its customers and realizing its objective of “One Family One Bank - Maha Bank”.