Sunday banking, extended hours, anytime, anywhere money ... even at your doorstep. What?s next?

Banks are embracing technology like never before to entice customers with no-fuss operations.

ATM-cum-debit cards, phone and Internet banking have made life so much simpler that people rarely visit their bank branches to pick up cash or deposit a cheque or even get a bank draft.

All this can be done from the comfort of the home and at one?s own convenience.

?Most often customers come to a bank for the same reasons ? to withdraw or deposit money or cheques, enquire about the balance or have a new cheque book issued. If customers have access to these basic banking facilities nearer home or office, they won?t need to visit the bank frequently and will save on time,? Malini Thadani, HSBC?s public affairs head, said.

?The bank can also save on its man-hour, and hence costs, if a customer banks from home. It can instead deploy employees in other value-added services such as more personalised banking and wealth management of customers. And, therefore, they are investing heavily in technology,? she added.

Be lazy, reap rewards

Customers are also being rewarded for not coming to the branches. Most banks already offer ATM, phone and Internet banking free of charges.

Now, the banks are also charging a lower service fee for, say, a request for a demand draft, if made online.

HSBC, for instance, does not charge for a demand draft request made online.

And if requested over phone, the charge is 50 per cent of what it would have charged had the customer come to the bank?s branch.

Private banks such as ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank have preferential rates for Internet banking customers. Public sector banks are also offering similar personal banking facilities. However, they prefer to maintain a low profile on this.

Bye-bye branches

Traditional banking ? going to the bank every time one needs to deposit or withdraw money, transferring funds, making a demand draft, or updating a passbook ? seems to be on its last leg.

In its report on the e-banking status in the country, IDC India has noted that the prime driver for any bank to offer services online is to offer 24x7 availability and convenience to customers.

Business sense

Beyond that, cost reduction is another major incentive. It is estimated that the cost to the bank per transaction on the Internet is nearly one-eighth of that done through branch banking. So the challenge for all banks will be to make Internet banking a way of life for mass customers and gradually increase the range of services they use.

Easy living

As of now, banks are offering online banking free of cost. A customer can ask for a demand draft, a cheque book, check one?s account balance, transfer funds, make payments and other transactions on the Net. Banks are also ready to home-deliver drafts. They just charge you for the courier.

Want to send a demand draft to your brother at the other end of the town? The bank is more than eager to issue the draft and also carry it to your brother?s place. Cost on your pocket? An extra Rs 40-50.

To make life simpler, some banks even offer doorstep collection of cheques and delivery of cash.

ICICI Bank, for example, does not charge any fee to deliver cash at the customer's address in the normal course, where the transaction is processed a day after the request is made. If the customer wants the money to be delivered on express basis (within a couple of hours), the bank charges Rs 40 per transaction.

Net result

Internet and phone banking not only save customers their money in the form of reduced or no service charges, but also their precious time. The convenience of carrying out transactions from anywhere is an added benefit.

However, the problem with e-banking is that one must have access to an Internet connection. In India, the IDC report shows, most of the online banking customers access their accounts from the office computer (42 per cent).

With banks expanding their products and services portfolio to include selling life insurance, mutual funds and even stock broking services, it is all the more worthwhile to log on to one's bank through the Internet and access multiple accounts (if you have) simultaneously and get real- time updates.