HDFC Bank is set to take over a majority of the salary accounts of employees and pensioners of Southern Railway. With an exclusive salary account package comprising various offers, including ₹1 crore personal accidental death compensation, the bank plans to take control of more than 60,000 salary/pension accounts in Chennai Division alone.
According to railway sources, the Chennai Division and the bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding to introduce the offers-loaded salary account. The benefits of the salary account would be extended to 21,782 employees and 38,798 pensioners. “The customised salary account of HDFC Bank is in line with Chennai Division’s commitment to comprehensive social security measures for its employees,” railway spokesperson A. Elumalai said.
Explaining the features of the salary account, the bank’s national account manager, P. Neelakandan, said the ₹1 crore personal accidental death compensation was being provided free of cost. The bank would soon sign another MoU with Southern Railway and extend the salary account offer to other divisions – Tiruchi, Madurai, Salem, Palghat and Thiruvananthapuram. “There are about 84,000 salary accounts and more than 1 lakh pensioner bank accounts in Southern Railway. We hope to take over a majority of the accounts by conducting special camps and awareness campaigns,” he said.
Besides five zero-balance savings accounts for the employee and his/her family members, the package includes benefits such as free platinum debit card with complimentary airport lounge visits, unlimited transactions in ATMs of HDFC and other banks, cyber insurance to cover fraudulent transactions, 100% waiver on locker fee, preferential rates of interest on loans, and unlimited cheque books and demand drafts. However, some of the benefits would be extended only to special gold salary account-holders.
A senior railway officer said that the Union Bank of India had also offered a special salary account package to staff in Western Railway last month. UBI also offered ₹1 crore personal accident insurance cover and air accident insurance of ₹2 crore free of cost and concessional health insurance for family. Other features of the product were similar or even better in some cases when compared to the HDFC Bank salary account, the official said.
ICF invites offers
In a related development, the Integral Coach Factory has invited Expression of Interest from reputed banks for opening, maintaining and operating customised salary accounts of its employees.
