Introduction about PNB Punjab National Bank with 4497 offices and the largest nationalised bank is serving its 3.5 crore customers with the following wide variety of banking services: Corporate banking Personal banking Industrial finance Agricultural finance Financing of trade International banking Punjab National Bank has been ranked 38th amongst top 500 companies by The Economic Times. PNB has earned 9th position among top 50 trusted brands in India. Punjab National Bank India maintains relationship with more than 200 leading international banks world wide. PNB India has Rupee Drawing Arrangements with 15 exchange companies in UAE and 1 in Singapore. PNB Online Punjab National Bank of India is also a member of SWIFT and more than 150 PNB Branches are connected with terminals in Mumbai. It promotes "Any Time, Any Where Banking". PNB offers Internet Banking services for both to the Corporates and Individuals. It provides 24 hours, 365 days banking from the PC of the user. A user can
Transcript
Introduction about PNBPunjab National Bank with 4497 offices and the largest nationalised bank is serving its 3.5 crore customers with the following wide variety of banking services:
Corporate banking Personal banking Industrial finance Agricultural finance Financing of trade International banking
Punjab National Bank has been ranked 38th amongst top 500 companies by The Economic Times. PNB has earned 9th position among top 50 trusted brands in India.
Punjab National Bank India maintains relationship with more than 200 leading international banks world wide. PNB India has Rupee Drawing Arrangements with 15 exchange companies in UAE and 1 in Singapore.
PNB Online
Punjab National Bank of India is also a member of SWIFT and more than 150 PNB Branches are connected with terminals in Mumbai. It promotes "Any Time, Any Where Banking".
PNB offers Internet Banking services for both to the Corporates and Individuals. It provides 24 hours, 365 days banking from the PC of the user. A user can operate anytime and from anywher its accounts. The following are some of the services available online:
Access to account Complete details of transactions and statement of account Online information of deposits, loans overdraft account etc. Online Payment Facility for railway reservation through IRCTC Payment
Gateway Project Online Utility Bill Payment Services which allows Internet Banking account
holders to pay their telephone, mobile, electricity, insurance and other bills anytime from anywhere from their desktop.
Punjab National Bank Card user can buy goods and enable services from 45,000 merchant outlet in India and can withdraw cash from over 4500 ATMs with its own 450 ATMs.
Punjab National Bank Branches
Punjab National Bank has its Branches in all the 7 metropolitan and cosmopolitan cities in Inadi namely New Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. It even has its branches in small town in both urban as well as rural areas.
PNB is always focussing on expanding abroad and till date has identified some emerging economies abroad. They are in few of these places.
Almaty Kazakhktan Shanghai China London Kabul Afghanistan
INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN PNBPunjab National Bank (PNB) has taken many IT initiatives. Bank has
computerized 100% of its branches and has implemented 100%
synchronise each time they connect. Local functions involving time
criteria (time segments for instructions/commands, calendar, access
profiles) will use the same clock. The calendar of special days will
also be stored locally.
If the connection with the server is interrupted, events are stored in
the controller until the link is resumed (storage of at least 25,000 23 | P a g e
events, extensible to 1,00,000 per controller). Access permissions
are stored locally, as are automatic reactions to access/intrusion.
The supplier must explain how he can guarantee that no event
data can ever be lost in the controllers.
The controllers may nevertheless be placed in FiFo (First In First Out)
mode if requested by the client.
If the link is broken, the operation of the system should not be
affected, and the response time of the readers should remain virtually
instantaneous.
If the 220-volt power supply is interrupted, battery back-up
LOCAL ACCESS UNITS ( CONTROLLER ):
This door module is the device that provides the interface between
the door(s) and the "multiple terminal unit"-type controller. The local
unit is equipped with inputs and outputs for connecting it to readers
and all the elements necessary for access control (door contacts, exit
push-buttons, door opener relays), plus other devices using its
supplementary inputs and outputs (emergency exits, local alarm
output etc.)
The local units have:
1. four fully addressable inputs/two outputs (extensible to eight
inputs/eight outputs);
2. two supplementary outputs (option);
3. four supplementary addressable inputs/outputs (option);
4. two inputs for identification devices and keyboards;
5. Power outputs for 12 V DC 350 mA door openers;
6. Anti-sabotage tamper switches (option)
7. a case that is easy to install or has DIN fixings
The local access units are linked together by an RS485 field bus and
power supply. The bus length must be extensible to 1 km. The power
supply will be distributed accordingly
OPPURTUNITIES FOR INFORMATION SYSTEM IN PNB
Public sector banks are trying to compete with private banks to offer better services, and automation is their best bet. Gaurav Patra profiles Punjab National Bank, a 107-year-old bank, which has taken major steps towards technology upgradation
Set up more than a century ago in 1895, Punjab National Bank (PNB) today is the second largest public sector bank in the country (after State Bank of India), with a business of Rs 1,00,000 crore. The bank has an extensive employee base of 56,000 people in 4,228 branches across the country, and has a customer base of 30 million. PNB’s net profit, for the
Technology has enabled PNB to be in a position to handle much more business with a lesser number of people, says K s bajwa
half-year ending in September 2002, stands at Rs 411 crore, which further showcases its strength in the banking segment.
Besides making a mark in terms of revenues, the bank— among the few technology-savvy PSUs—is now setting examples for other banks, especially PSUs. Recognising this effort, the Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT), a division of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), presented PNB with the award for excellence in banking technology. This is quite an achievement considering that the technology transformation started only two-and-a-half years back at PNB. In March 2000, the bank had only 36 percent of its businesses covered on computers, as against 84 percent today.
According to K S Bajwa, deputy general manager of the IT division at PNB, there are four reasons why PNB opted for IT as its business tool. “Firstly, technology has the capacity to reduce the transaction cost to a great extent, plus it saves time. Secondly, it limits data entry time as replication, report generation etc, can be done automatically. Thirdly, it offers immense scope for improvement on the customer relationship front, as computers help deliver quick and enhanced value-added services to customers like smart cards, ATMs, Internet banking, etc. And lastly it also helps keep track of the business,” explains Bajwa.
Banking applicationsThe first and the foremost requirement for this technology transformation was a centralised core banking system. PNB tied up with Infosys in the first phase. Once it had acquired the software package, PNB’s 150 strong in-house team customised it, as per the bank’s requirements. In April this year, PNB implemented this centralised core banking solution at its eight branches—six in New Delhi and two in Mumbai. Today, the number of locations has increased to 12. As far as the centralised core banking system is concerned, PNB has a data centre at the corporate office and all these 12 centres have an extension to that data. “This system enables an individual having an account in any of our branches to conduct transactions/operate the account from any of these 12 branches,” says Bajwa.
By next year, PNB aims to connect 200 branches in 40-50 cities across the country and aims to increase this number to 1,500 in three years. “This system will also enable us to have a centralised database to implement CRM and data warehousing solutions in future,” he adds. Once this system is in place, the banking major will be able to introduce a number of value-added services like ATMs, tele-banking, SMS banking, mobile banking and Internet banking, remote access facility through its website, etc. (PNB already has a license from RBI to launch Internet banking.)
The system will also enable customers to avail of the Straight to Processing (STP) facility. The biggest advantage of STP is that if a person with an account in Delhi deposits a cheque in Chennai, his account in Delhi gets updated the same day. “We have successfully implemented this solution and this is making both our customers’ and our life very convenient,” comments Bajwa. PNB’s team has also customised this package to suit the typical requirements of a public sector bank. “As PNB handles huge number of government accounts—public provident fund, deposit of income tax, deposit of different duties and treasury payments, we had to customise it and also built a module for government businesses into this package,” says Bajwa. The 107-year-old bank, with around 7,000 locker holders, has also built a locker module in this package to benefit customers.
The bank also has a depository set-up (to store dematerialised share certificates) at its corporate office in New Delhi and another in Mumbai. Customers owning shares and bonds can deposit them at these depositories after which the hard copies are destroyed. The bank, on the other hand, keeps a digital copy of all these documents. “Thus, one does not have to bother about the loss of paper, or a signature that does not match and so on. Customers can now instruct the bank at any point of time to transfer these securities,” informs Bajwa.
Another very interesting development with PNB is its contract with Indian Railways. It is putting up an ATM machine at the New Delhi station’s reservation office, which is going to be a interface between the Railways’ server and the bank’s server. Once this is functional, customers can collect their tickets from the ATM machine and the payment can be made using credit or debit cards (PNB will launch Mastercard International debit cards next January), or by a paper card (which the bank is launching shortly). Once this is successful and the interface is done, the bank plans to enable all their ATMs across the country on this platform.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) is another technology initiative that the bank has taken up recently. It has entered into an agreement with the Customs department wherein the Customs’ server is connected with the bank’s corporate office server, which is further connected to several branches of PNB and also to importers. Thus, whatever duties are required to be deposited with the Customs department can be debited from the importer’s (read customer’s) account automatically. The pilot project for this has already been carried out and the bank plans to introduce this service soon.
The PSU has also introduced a bilingual software known as Bank-mate. “With the help of this software one can generate reports in Hindi and also can get his/her
passbook in Hindi,” informs Bajwa. This is already in operation at around 25 branches and PNB is also getting orders for this package from other banks.
PNB’s IT set-upAs any other financial institution PNB also has a number of applications running on its network. The bank has plans to standardise all its platforms on UNIX operating system and RDBMS on Oracle. As far as the hardware platform is concerned, PNB has Sun Microsystems’ Web servers at the data centre. For the Base 24 switch, they have gone in for Compaq Servers. Apart from this, they are also using RISC Servers, IBM and Xeon servers. PNB has around 500 servers across the country and around 13,000-15,000 PCs placed in different offices across the country. At some locations, the bank is still using DOS machines to run some of their ATMs.
Networking hardware: The bank is using Cisco products (routers, switches) at the data centre for networking hardware. It has around 100 routers and 8-10 switches across the country, mainly from Cisco. Initially TechNet was the network integrator for the bank. But, as the bank’s requirements increased, it shifted to HCL Comnet to design and implement its network as HCL Comnet was better equipped to handle the load, says Bajwa.
Storage: Considering the size of its operations, PNB needs to have an effective storage system, but it doesn’t have a centralised storage system yet. The data for all its 2,700 branches is still stored on PCs. But the bank is in the process of storing all its data on CD-ROMS by March 2003. It is also in the process of implementing a data warehousing solution called Ladders. Through this solution, all the data from the branches will be sent to the corporate office through regional and zonal offices respectively. For this solution, PNB has opted for a Xeon server and UNIX operating system. National Institute of Bank Management (NIBM) has developed this solution for PNB.
Security: The bank already appointed IDRBT as its security consultant. IDRBT is in the process of creating documentation on the security set-up of the bank. PNB has hired Network Systems to implement the selected solution and is considering solutions like Firewall, Biometrics, PKI and is tendering for the same.
WAN: Today, the bank has a network of around 400 ATMs installed and this number is expected to grow very soon. All these ATMs are connected through a Base-24 switch from FSS. Recently, the bank has also decided to
share its ATM network with other banks. So PNB’s customers will be able to use other banks’ ATMs and vice versa.
This will help the bank to increase the reach of its customers. For wide area connectivity of all its ATM machines, PNB has taken 160 VSATs from Comsat Max. Though hired, the VSATs are used exclusively by PNB.
PNB also has another network on INFINET, a financial network set up by RBI under which more than 800 VSATs are installed all over the country. PNB is using 60 VSATs as part of INFINET.
BenefitsOne of the biggest benefits that the bank has derived out of IT has been the tremendous saving on recruitment front—the bank has not recruited more staff even while the business and work pressures have gone up five times. Consequently, PNB’s profitability has also increased. To train users the bank has set up 14 computer training labs across the country.
FutureAs part of its future roadmap the bank has lined up some interesting projects. This includes the launching of its debit cards. For its CRM initiatives the bank plans to set up a customer relationship centre, in addition to a virtual Internet branch. It is also thinking of setting up a videoconferencing system at 30 locations. It has already placed an order with Siemens Information Systems for the same.
To further strengthen its position in the industry, PNB has plans to set up PNB IIT (PNB Institute of Information Technology) in Lucknow. Apart from providing technical training to bankers, this autonomous body will also research and develop technical products for the banking industry.
unjab National Bank used a two-pronged strategy to IT-enable itself and support present
and future business needs. And along the way it picked up valuable information and experience. by Soutiman Das Gupta & Rahul Neel Mani
Punjab National Bank's (PNB's) come a long way since March 2000, when IT systems were deployed only at 500-odd branches, and was very disparate. Only 35 percent of the bank's business was computerized and a number of small software packages ran on standalone PCs.
Now in 2003, PNB has 101 branches on a WAN, deployed a core banking infrastructure, and runs 175 networked ATMs. It has also deployed a reliable security infrastructure that helps it conduct transactions within its branches without worry. The journey doesn't end here, but along the way the bank's picked up valuable knowledge and experience.
The beginning
In March 2000, the penetration and use of IT was not very high at PNB. The bank used seven different software, which ran on 13 different flavors of Unix, on standalone PCs. The 500-odd branches were not networked and only 35 percent of the bank's business was computerized. The overall expertise in IT among users was low.
The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) issued a directive to the bank to computerize at least 70 percent of its business by December 2000. This prompted the bank to work out a strategy to tackle the daunting task in the short period of time.
Analysis
A SWOT analysis was performed and it produced the following results:
Strengths:
The bank personnel would be able to readily embrace the use of IT. An existing pool of qualified knowledge-based personnel would contribute
largely to the IT initiatives. The financial position of the bank was very sound. There would not be any
constraint of funds to facilitate IT initiatives. The bank wasn't bound to too much legacy systems and equipment.
Weaknesses:
Different Unix OS flavors in different branches. Different standalone financial applications on PCs at different branches. Lack of interoperability due to disparity in systems. Limited expertise on the software packages currently deployed. This
increased dependence on vendors. Systems audits were pending. Most branches did not have a proper LAN in place.
There was almost no WAN connectivity.
The bank realized that there was a lot of opportunity to create a stable IT infrastructure which would fuel future growth. But there was also the need to honor the CVC deadline to computerize at least 70 percent of its business within December 2000. The bank now has around 4,000 branches.
Action
PNB hired a consultant and devised a two-pronged plan of action. The plan comprised:
1. A short term goal - To meet the CVC deadline of 70 percent computerization.
2. A long term goal - To create a dependable core banking infrastructure and build a nationwide network to connect different branches to the core infrastructure.
Meeting the CVC deadline
In order to meet the CVC deadline the bank decided to deploy simple IT infrastructure so that it could computerize 70 percent of its business within the deadline. The IT team decided to implement an application, which could run on standalone PCs across its nationwide branches. The application vendor would have to provide nationwide support since the in-house IT team could not provide support at all branches.
PNB chose a product from a company called Nelito. It was a DOS-based, 'Partial Branch Automation' application. Standalone versions were chosen since there weren't LANs in place, and deployment of LANs at branches would take so long that the CVC deadline couldn't be met. The interface was simple in design, and thus easy for the bank personnel to use.
Hardware and Training
The bank selected two hardware vendors and the application software was embedded into the hardware to make them 'plug-and-play' capable. Nelito's package was deployed at one branch at a time. And after each successful implementation at a branch, it was replicated at a newer branch.
Internal training sessions for the bank personnel were conducted with the help of 14 training institutes. The source code of the product was tweaked to facilitate deployment. The IT team was specially trained to re-architect the source code, and make any modifications, improvements, value additions, and enhancements. Deployment at the selected branches was over by December 2000.
The bank requested CVC for an extension of the deadline and was granted time till March 2001. By March 2001, 70.60 percent of the bank's business was computerized.
Long-term strategy
In the long-term, PNB wanted a technology that would consolidate all its business resources and sustain the bank's future growth. It also wanted to create its own network, which would play a vital role in its success. Three consultants were appointed to review technology options for long-term adoption. The verdict of the consultants was to deploy a centralized core banking architecture.
Core banking architecture
On 30 March 2001, the bank used the services of Infosys for the deployment of Finnacle. A core team was selected, which would be the heart of the project. Infosys trained 200-odd personnel from a core team over six months. The core team modified and customized the package according to its specific needs.
It was then time to procure hardware. K.S. Bajwa, Deputy General Manager, Information Technology Division, PNB, said, "It's a standard international practice to procure hardware based on the type of software applications that an enterprise has selected. This helps to match the specific computing needs required by the software."
PNB purchased servers, security infrastructure, and storage equipment and decided to house it in its own central data center in New Delhi. A lot of infrastructure from Cisco has been used to build the data center.
In April 2002 the bank rolled-out Finnacle in seven branches as a pilot venture. This was done because the bank had seven different application packages, and it wanted to ensure smooth migration of the data into Finnacle. By mid May 2002, all data from other software was successfully migrated into Finnacle.
Culture and technology issues
Issues were mostly cultural. Most staffers were used to working in a manual environment, and some had worked in standalone environments. In the new networked environment, personnel at the node/counter didn't actually 'see' the transactions updating in the various account books.
This gave rise to a number of queries and suggestions from personnel. The bank consulted IDRBT and RBI to verify the implementation success and it was reported that the deployment was absolutely correct. Around six months later, the personnel felt that the environment 'change' had done them good, and was used to working on the systems.
"There were a few integration issues when migrating to Finnacle, but the in-house IT team was able to resolve them all. The pilot for the initial seven branches was a test-bed for us. The knowledge we gained from the pilot deployments helped us overcome the future issues," explained Bajwa.
Systems
Before deploying the core banking architecture, PNB used servers which were NT-based, from IBM, and from other vendors. The bank conducted benchmarking tests for Finnacle on various server platforms. And it was satisfied with the performance of Sun's hardware on Solaris. Sun's Fire servers, Solaris OS, and Oracle's RDBMS are now in use.
Network design
Cisco has tied up with PNB to evolve the network design and implement a nationwide network backbone to connect all its offices. Cisco will assist the bank in understanding and implementing the various technologies associated with the project. The converged network infrastructure will allow PNB to standardize the applications and software needed to provide the banking services.
The network infrastructure will have a three-tier architecture. The network hub will be in its data center. The various branches would be connected to the data center using new-world routing and switching technologies.
Moving to Internet banking
PNB got a license from RBI to offer Internet banking services. Some of the RBI preconditions were that the systems should be audited by an independent auditor, and an independent and authentic agency must carry out penetration testing. The
bank has already had its systems audited by an external agency, and the penetration testing process is still going on.
In the process, PNB has developed the skills of its own personnel to take charge of security on their own at a later stage. The bank will also recruit technically trained staff to provide the necessary knowledge pool. With the Internet banking launch, the bank will also strengthen its security policy.
Storage systems
The bank has followed RBI's storage requirement guidelines. Provisions have been made to store transaction data for around 10 years. In some cases, data is stored permanently. Around 164 Sun enterprise class servers are used in a DAS architecture. The total capacity is of multiple TBs.
The Sun hardware uses an in-built storage management tool. Bajwa feels that the bank doesn't need a third-party storage management tool right now since the database is not too large. However the bank is considering a storage management application from Veritas.
IMPLEMENTATION AND BENEFITS OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS IN PNB
RRBs play a key role in rural institutional financing and were formed with the objective of rural credit delivery & upliftment of rural economy. RRBs faced many challenges due to non-availability of skilled resources, lack of infrastructure, etc. The business domain scope of RRBs is completely different than commercial banks & mainly covers the priority sector advances. So taking all these considerations into account under the guidelines of RBI, Punjab National Bank had implemented CBS in its 5000+ branches in 2008. Now the same implementation methodology was also adopted to bring RRBs under the CBS fold.
To implement this, a lot of business and technical challenges were faced. First, as mentioned above, the business scope of RRB is different and RRBs have specific needs of subsidy, subvention and soft loan scheme. Second, the target customer are mainly the local mass comprising of agriculturists, small businessmen having their own needs and expectations. Third, adopting new technologies was a great challenge for the RRB employees.
Best Automation Project
Company Scenario
Before Deployment
Lack of infrastructure, non-availability of skilled resources, etc
Customization, parameterization, etc was a big challenge
After Deployment
Customization, parameterization, innovative system redesign is handled.
Seamless banking experience to the rural masses.
what was Deployed
Exisitng H/W, Data Centre setup, skilled and experience manpower and other It resources was extended to RRBs.
A total of 12 officials, 2 each from 6 RRBs were selected and trained extensively by PNB officials and Infosys Ltd, utilizing the training infrastructure.
Punjab National Bank finally implemented CBS successfully in 6 RRBs in just 12 months before the schedule deadline. Improved customer service, better housekeeping,desired growth, centralized generation of MIS reports, etc is now achieved through the implementation of CBS in RRBs. Branches now have more time so as to explore new business opportunities due to the automation of front-office businesses. Anywhere Anytime Banking, Automated Teller Machines, Internet banking solutions, etc are also provided to the banking customers. Post CBS implementation, total gross profit has reached to Rs 228.97 Crore from Rs 175.04 Crore. The entire project was implemented using the internal resources of Punjab National Bank including hardware, software, network and information security infrastructure.
Ajay Misra, General Manager (CTO)
What has been the overall impact of this project?RRBs have started reaping the benefits in terms of improved customer services, improved housekeeping, centralized generation of MIS reports, etc, all with the
implementation of Core Banking Solution in RRBs. New business opportunities are being explored at the branch level due to the automation of front-office business. Not only that, due to the automation, the shortage of staff strength is also complemented. Revenue leakage was curtailed and service charge also got increased due to centralized execution of different charges.
The RRBs are now at par with any other commercial bank and are now marching with prominence. Inter- SOL transactions have now become a reality. The customer is now a customer of the bank rather than the customer of the branch.
One of the live examples is that, with the implementation of Earnest Money Deposit Scheme of Haryana Urban Development Authority of the Haryana Gramin Bank, they have fetched a deposit business of Rs1600 crores during the month of December 2009- January 2010.
What according you sets this project apart from any other in its class? What's the USP of this project?While most of the peer banks are yet to bring their branches under the CBS umbrella, Punjab National Bank has achieved it by bringing all the odd 1400 branches of its 6 sponsored RRBs which is unique in itself.
The total time required to complete the project was 24 months to cover 1400+ branches. However PNB achieved 100% CBS implementation in all 6 RRBs in just 12 months and that too before the RBI schedule date which was September 2011.
Punjab National Bank implemented the entire project using the internal resources extending its own H/W, S/W, information security infrastructure, etc. Not only that, the Data Centre of RRBs is hosted by the existing datacentre of PNB and is managed by the existing team.
The project CBS@ RRB meant for all the 6 Regional Rural Banks, is operating in 6 different states of North India and caters to the needs of rural masses. The Branches of these RRBs are manned by the end users who are also the employees of RRBs. On the contrary, Head Quarter is also using the Core Banking solution for business monitoring & control and for generation of centralized MIS.
Coming to technical part of it, IT resources viz Network setup, Information security setup and existing Data Centre setup was extended to RRBs. Apart from this, skilled and experience manpower was also extended to RRBs. Only a few new servers were procured while existing hardware resources were consolidated and re utilized for RRBs which in overall helped in minimizing the project cost. 6 instances of database, 3-Tier setup having Web Server, Application Server and Database server were also put in place.
In case of any kind of gaps, a detailed GAP analysis was performed in the existing system and procedures being followed at RRBs. Utilizing the PNB training infrastructure, a team of 12 officials, 2 each from 6 RRBs were selected and were given extensive training by PNB officials and Infosys Ltd. Business Process Definition exercise was undertaken with the RRB team followed by a strong Business Process Re-engineering activity. This was implemented for
standardization of various processes and products across all the 6 RRBs. Specialized business modules like Subsidy linked accounts, Subvention module etc were also specially customized for RRBs. In future, PNB plans to further customize it as per the banking practices. Not only this, MIS is also flexible enough to incorporate any new customized reports without any issues. They also plan to connect alternate delivery channels like ATMs, Kiosks, etc. A Service Desk tool called Service Desk Service Plus (SPSD), which is basically a call escalation tool will also be implemented. Through this, any issues faced by branches can be simply escalated to higher level of CBS desk. Moreover, an anti virus solution with auto updates is also in the pipeline.
Punjab National Bank sets a Milestone for the Indian Banking IndustryImplements Finacle core banking solution from Infosys across 100% branches in
record time.Sun Microsystems’ and Finacle core banking solution implementation on the
Oracle platform.
New Delhi, February 5, 2009 – Punjab National Bank (PNB), India’s second largest public sector bank today announced that it has completed 100% core banking implementation at all its 4604 branches and extension counters through the Finacle Universal Banking Solution from Infosys, on Sun infrastructure and the Oracle Database setting a significant milestone for themselves and a new benchmark for the Indian banking industry.
Completed in November 2008, 4 months ahead of schedule, the bank implemented industry-leading Finacle core banking solution from Infosys across its operations running a flexible, and scalable database platform from Oracle and innovative and cost-effective Sun SPARC enterprise
servers from Sun Microsystems. With its pan India presence, PNB offers a wide variety of banking services through its 4604 branches including 249 extension counters – the largest amongst Nationalized Banks. With an increasingly dynamic business and regulatory environment, PNB sought to not only achieve automation, but also centralize operations, standardize branch processes, achieve high scalability for future business growth, provide flexibility of creating innovative banking products to its lines of business, and at the same time, reduce overall costs.
The visionary zeal and the futuristic view of the Bank’s top management in the year 2000-2001 incubated the idea of introduction of a Centralised Banking solution. The bold and innovative thought culminated into the CBS architecture with Finacle application on Oracle Database and Sun hardware platform with Solaris Operating System. In 2001-2002, PNB embarked upon a transformation journey unparalleled in the country in terms of scale and technology. The bank became the first public sector bank in India to opt for a new generation core banking platform – Finacle from Infosys. Since then, Finacle has enabled the bank to consolidate and centralize its operations, improving branch efficiency and productivity per employee. Consolidation has also resulted in reduction of revenue leakage and cost, while increasing ease of technical support and maintenance at branches. With Finacle’s agile and future proof technology, the bank today has over 22,500 concurrent users. The solution’s scalability has also enabled the bank’s scalability to be the best in the country with the number of peak transactions at 3.5 million.
Finacle core banking platform also provides the bank with exceptional agility for product innovation and improved flexibility of operations. With seamless integration of delivery channels such as ATM and internet banking solutions, PNB is able to provide 24X7 services to customers at a reduced transaction cost. Sun SPARC enterprise M series and energy efficient Chip Multi-Threading (CMT) systems running the Solaris Operating System delivered higher performance and scalability, enabling PNB’s architecture to scale seamlessly from catering to 500 branches to more than 4600 branches across the nation. Periodic consolidation of servers and storage by Sun Professional Services also delivered important benefits – optimizing compute and storage utilization, reducing power, cooling and space costs significantly over a period of time. Sun technologies also ensured continuous availability of the banking platform with the Disaster Recovery Site established by the bank and as part of test drills, the Bank has successfully operated out of its alternative datacentre (DRS).
PNB’s choice of the Oracle Database has provided the bank’s IT infrastructure with robustness, management features, security and scalability as well as performance requirements to service 3.5 million transactions and 22500 concurrent users – a significant achievement in the Indian banking industry. In addition, the Oracle Database will help PNB take control of its enterprise information, gain better business insight, and quickly and confidently adapt to an increasingly changing competitive environment. With secure, highly available and scalable grids of low-cost servers and storage, Oracle customers can tackle the most demanding transaction processing, data warehousing, business intelligence and content management applications. The 100% implementation of Finacle Core Banking Solution shall enable PNB to further reduce operational costs and revenue leakage while improving productivity of branches, introduction of new and innovative products and visibility of business. The anywhere anytime banking facility will enable the bank to offer products for every segment of the customer.
On the landmark achievement of 100% CBS, Dr. K. C Chakrabarty - Chairman and Managing Director of Punjab National Bank said “The challenges of the financial sector can be met with the total connectivity and the centralisation of the banking operations. It not only ensures standardisation of products, but also enables quick launch of the new and innovative financial products ensuring sufficient lead time to market it. Vast majority of our population are still denied easy access to banking and the technology driven Financial inclusion initiative will bridge the gap. The core banking solution offers seamless platform for integrating various such initiatives and also reduces the cost of transaction, thereby offering financial products at an affordable cost. The achievement of 100% CBS is the beginning of our efforts in this direction. The contribution of our technology partners enabled us to achieve the milestone ahead of the time schedule.” Mr. Haragopal M, Head - Finacle, Infosys Technologies Ltd., said on the occasion, “I congratulate Punjab National Bank on setting this unique standard in the Indian banking industry. Our long-standing and progressive partnership also highlights Finacle’s leadership in large scale banking transformation, the solution’s future proof technology and powerful capabilities. India is a strategic market for Finacle and we look forward to closely collaborating with Punjab National Bank for their future growth plans.” Commenting on this achievement, Mr. T. Srinivasan, Vice President, Technology Sales, Oracle India said, “It gives me immense pleasure to see our relationship with PNB, of almost a decade, reach this stage of achievement. We have worked closely with the bank to provide an IT infrastructure through Oracle Database that will enable the bank to support its customers 24x7.” He added, “In addition, our database is easy to deploy and manage and will provide PNB with high availability of data. Highlighting the need for banks to transform business functions by leveraging agile next generation technologies, Mr. Anil Valluri, Vice President and Managing Director- India GEM, Sun Microsystems said, “We congratulate PNB on completion of this milestone and we are privileged to be part of this project. This represents a giant stride for the Indian banking industry in its road to adoption of technology. In order to meet rapidly changing business demands, banks need enterprise-wide tools that can eliminate obstacles, meet the challenge of new
markets, and ultimately lead to a healthy competitive position. With over two decades of technology experience, Sun Microsystems has been a leading provider of mission critical technologies and services to the Banking industry and our customers are marquee names in the Indian banking industry. The deployment of Sun’s flexible and efficient infrastructure has helped PNB in the implementation of the core banking solution at a rapid pace.”
