State Bank of India, the largest bank in the country, has a phenomenal reach in terms of the number of branches across the entire length and breadth of the country, serving more than 110 mn customers. We have in the recent past embarked on putting all our branches on a computerized system, Bank Master, to improve operational efficiency and maintain our leadership position in the country.

Considering the threat posed by technically sound private and foreign banks, and to establish SBI as one of the most advanced banks in the world, we have undertaken core-banking projects to network 14,000+ branches of the State Bank Group, which is one of the largest core banking projects of its kind in the world.

The project aims to bring more than 14,000 branches of the SB Group on a centralized database platform, which would enable the bank to integrate all delivery channels such as ATM, Internet banking, mobile banking, and payment system network of the country. Eventually, the bank would be able to reap the benefits of such centralized database by going into data mining and data warehousing, which would enable the bank to do trend analysis, forecasting of customer preferences, cross selling products, and gathering business intelligence.

SK Sehgal, GM, IT, State Bank of India

Our project has been designed on the lines of a traditional software development life cycle with six phases: feasibility study, requirement analysis, design, development, implementation, and post implementation. However, we dont have any design freeze as commonly observed in SDLC, and the project has been subjected to customization from time-to-time. We are currently in the implementation phase of SDLC.

The project began in 2001 with feasibility study, evaluation, benchmarking, and selection process, and the first pilot branch for core-banking implementation was taken on August 29, 2003. We are well ahead on our critical path, which we had set for CBS implementation.

With respect to staying ahead of the competition, we may mention that efforts are on to bring the entire banks business on CORE. Out solution provider is Tata Consultancy Services, which has carried out customization of the software originally purchased from FNS, Australia.

During the course of our journey to core banking solution, there were many hurdles, which we crossed with success. Major challenges during project implementation were problems in design freeze (requirement baselining), user training and poor connectivity. The requirement baselining problem was addressed by controlled customization and proper release maintenance.

The problem of connectivity was addressed by bandwidth segregation and sorting out port problem. We built up planned training infrastructure through various modes, including e-learning, to ensure all users are adequately covered.

We are well on our way to cover the entire bank on CBS by the end of FY 08 and we expect to see the real power of core banking visible in State Bank of India. This would enable us to place SBI in the forefront of the global banking arena.

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