Indian Army and State Bank of India inked MoU on Defence Salary Package

The Indian Army and State Bank of India (SBI) on 23 February 2015 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Defence Salary Package.

The MoU is tailor-made to suit the requirements of serving soldiers, pensioners and families. The revised MoU has incorporated a number of additional facilities and basic features of the MoU include
• Number of free/concessional services like free drafts, free cheque books, free funds transfers to any bank in India through RTGS / NEFT, free ATM cards and others
• The provision also includes the Nepal Express Remittance Scheme which enables instant fund transfers to Nepal for the benefit of the Nepali Domicile Gorkha Soldiers serving in the Indian Army.
• Personal Accident Insurance (PAI) was enhanced and was linked to the Savings account instead of the debit card.
• Exemption percentage of margin money for house and car loans was enhanced while the processing charges on the loans were waved off.

The revised MoU will benefit 19.5 lakh pensioners and 10 lakh serving personnel who hold Pay or Pension accounts with SBI. The beneficiaries will be provided an opportunity to access modern banking facilities.

The signing ceremony was chaired by the Adjutant General, Lt Gen Rakesh Sharma and was attended by top dignitaries of SBI Bank, headed by Dr Vaidyan MG, Dy MD (Retail Strategy).

The first MoU between the Indian Army and SBI was signed in 2011 and was valid for a period of three years.