Private sector lender, City Union Bank has started the facility of online opening of term deposit accounts.

"The idea struck when I noticed that people by and large went for online booking of rail tickets. So, we decided to offer our entire gamut of services on the electronic platform, except for say, operating the locker, which obviously requires the physical presence of the account holder," says Dr N. Kamakodi, Executive President of City Union Bank.

The bank has also recently started offering the facility of online fund transfer to its customers. "The response has been phenomenal and quite unexpected, considering that we did not advertise about this offering. It was there on our site though. Within a week of its introduction, our online collection of term deposits swelled to about Rs 1 crore," he said.

He said that applicants for online facility did not include only the youth. "Senior citizens have gone for it in a big way. We noticed this drift in many places," said Dr Kamakodi.

"We find that more and more people from rural pockets are now comfortably using Netbanking services," he added.