Singapore-based DBS Bank is set to soft launch its digital/mobile online banking in India this week, the bank’s CEO Piyush Gupta told news agency PTI.
"We wanted to do (the mobile banking) in one of the big countries. We chose India for its enabling eco-system for electronic payments. The (Indian) enabling architect is so friendly for such launch," Gupta said.
India was chosen as the preferred location for the launch after assessing it with China and Indonesia, he added.
The soft launch will be done in phases from end of next month across the bank’s locations in 12 Indian cities, including Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore and Pune, with the offline launch scheduled in a few months.
Gupta has also unveiled plans to establish wholly-owned subsidiaries in the country following approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
"Once the wholly-owned subsidiary approval comes, we will start expanding our branch network to about 60-70 branches," he remarked.