State Bank Wants To Keep A Close Eye On All Its Branches

SBI's surveillance project will involve the use of artificial intelligence-enabled cameras

- Shayan Ghosh

India's largest bank is going high-tech in matters of surveillance by introducing a network to connect all its branches using artificial intelligence-enabled cameras, thermal imaging and intelligent video analytics, according to a document seen by Mint. The document, a call for consultants to bid for the project, said that the State Bank of India (SBI) plans to "enhance security, monitoring, reporting and incident management in real-time". It also says that by creating a "unified surveillance infrastructure", the project aims to establish a "secure environment for customers and employees while safeguarding critical assets."

This round-the-clock system is intended for monitoring, reporting, active deterrence and for managing incidents like robbery and fire outbreaks.

SBI currently has 22,685 branches across the country, the most among domestic lenders. According to the document, SBI wants the consultant to look at a surveillance solution that would account for a 20% rise in branches over the next five years.

The document mentioned above says this project would allow its security team to oversee all activities of the local head office branches. Further, feed from these local head offices would be integrated into a dashboard at a single command centre in its Mumbai head office or corporate centre.