Jamshedpur, May 2: State Bank of India (SBI) account holders in rural areas of the Singhbhum-Kolhan division will soon enjoy the facility of core banking.

According to the target set by the premier nationalised bank, rural branch customers in three districts — East and West Singhbhum and Seraikela-Kharsawan — will no longer have to think to withdraw and deposit money if they visit any of the around 1,000 SBI branches across the country which have core-banking facility.

The facility also covers the use of automated teller machines (ATMs) — SBI has the largest nationwide network with over 5,000 ATMs — with the unique 11-digit account identification number.

Over a dozen SBI rural branches in the division are yet to come under the core-banking umbrella. In the first phase, the bank has provided core-banking facilities where it has huge customer base like Bistupur, Sakchi and other commercial hubs in East Singhbhum.

SBI regional manager (Singhbhum-Kolhan) Kumar Rajan said the rural branches of bank would be connected either with satellite lease line or very small aperture terminal (VSAT) during the current financial year. “The bank has decided to provide core-banking facilities to rural branch customers. Once the rural branches connected with core banking, the account holders will able to withdraw and deposit money round the clock,” Rajan told The Telegraph.

He added that the bank had identified certain rural branches in Singhbhum-Kolhan to link with core banking. “We have charted out a list of the banks in the rural region of each district. The work of providing core banking will be started soon.” Only 26 out of 40 SBI branches in the division have core banking facility.