INS Vikramaditya, the largest warship and latest aircraft carrier of the Indian Navy, has a strength of over 1,500 personnel. A versatile national capability and a full-fledged township by herself, the ship has a new acquisition — an ATM machine installed onboard by the nation’s largest bank and banking network, the State Bank of India (SBI). The one-of-a-kind ATM machine was inaugurated onboard at a function at the naval base Karwar on January 21, 2017, jointly by Rear Admiral K.J. Kumar, Flag Officer Commanding, Karnataka Naval Area, and Rajnish Kumar, Managing Director and Group Executive (National Banking Group), SBI.

The facilities offered by the SBI to the ship include cash withdrawals, generation of mini-statements, access to bank balance details and change of PIN numbers. In the near future, the facility will be upgraded to a recycler machine with a cash deposit facility. Additionally, facilities like cash transfer, card-to-card transfer, credit card payment, mobile number registration and updation would also be available. The Indian Navy has a memorandum of understanding with the SBI that operates defence salary packages. This joint venture between India’s largest warship and largest banking network is a significant step towards cementing the partnership between the Navy and the bank further, underlines the mutually supportive relations the two organisations share. The ATM machine is a unique floating banking system, and along with the point of sale machine that is also proposed to be installed onboard, would go a long way in supporting cashless transactions on the ship, in line with the government’s policy of digitising the Indian economy.