JOIN USSpot check: Which banks comply with RBI’s language guidelines?
Public sector banks in Bengaluru are displaying signage and information boards in Kannada as mandated by the RBI rule. However, printed material in Kannada is lacking across the board.
Metrolife did a reality check after Nirmala Sitharaman, Union finance minister, said in Parliament last week that nine of the 12 public sector banks in India are fully complying with the trilingual rule put out by RBI in 2015.
According to the rule, public and private sector banks are advised to operate in three languages — English, Hindi and the language of the state. Among the former, Indian Bank, Punjab National Bank and Punjab & Sind Bank are in the process of implementing the rule, she informed.
The banks have to display boards, provide customers with booklets, account opening forms, pay-in slips and passbooks in the three languages. Even when the cheque forms are printed in Hindi and English, the customer may choose to write in the ‘concerned regional language’, it said.
Metrolife did a reality check over three days and 12 visits.
State Bank of India: The Nagarabhavi branch couldn’t provide a bank account opening form in Kannada. The Basaveshwaranagar branch offers pay-in-slips and forms in Kannada. Both outlets have signage and instruction boards in Kannada.
Bank of Baroda: The bank forms and stationery at the Chandra Layout and Kamakshipalya branches were available only in English and Hindi.
However, the signage and instruction were displayed trilingual. A few staffers at the Kamakshipalya branch could speak in Kannada.
UCO Bank: The Koramangala branch has many who speak Kannada and all the information boards are put out in Kannada.
However, the bank opening form was available only in English.
Canara Bank: At the Chandra Layout branch, we saw account opening forms and challans in English and Kannada. That wasn’t the case in the Koramangala branch though.
A staff member said Kannada-speaking colleagues could help. The signage and instructions were compliant.
Punjab National Bank: The Koramangala branch displays signage and information in English, Kannada and Hindi, and has Kannada-speaking staff. The bank account opening forms have to be accessed online and they are available in English and Hindi.
Central Bank of India: The Koramangala branch has Kannada-speaking staff, and information boards and signage in three languages. However, the bank opening form is available only in English and Hindi.
Union Bank of India: The Basaveshwarnagara branch had the deposit and pay-in-slip forms in three languages. The bank account opening forms need to be looked up online and are available only in English and Hindi.
Indian Overseas Bank: Customer information and guidance boards are displayed in Kannada at this Koramangala outlet. However, banking forms are only available in English.
Bank of India: The Basaveshwarnagara branch was the only bank we visited with signage and information boards, and all printed material in English, Hindi and Kannada. It also had Kannada-speaking staff.
‘No monitoring on use of state languages’
The Kannada Grahakara Koota (KGK), a consumer rights initiative, has complained to banks and RBI about the neglect of Kannada, member Arun Javgal told Metrolife.
“In response to my email complaint last year, I received a message that they would look into the matter. Still, I keep seeing similar complaints on social media,” says Arun.
In September it was widely reported that a consumer court in Karnataka had slapped a fine of Rs 85,177 on SBI’s Haliyal branch in Uttara Kannada for rejecting a cheque written in Kannada.
“Banks are supposed to submit reports to the RBI on their use of Hindi. In non-Hindi states, banks are even given Raja Bhasha awards for adopting Hindi. There is no such monitoring of the adoption of state languages. Plus, the requirement to know Kannada prior to writing banking exams has been diluted over time,” says Arun.