Ministry of Defence signs MoU with Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank to expand the reach of SPARSH initiative

With a goal of integrating Bank of Baroda and HDFC Bank across more than 14,000 branches in India as Service Centers for the System for Pension Administration (Raksha) (SPARSH) project, the Defence Accounts Department signed a MoU with both the banks on September 21, 2022.

According to Dr. Ajay Kumar, the Secretary of Defence, the goal is to bring 17 lakh of the 32 lakh defence pensioners in SPARSH by the end of September 2022, and the rest of the pensioners would be enrolled in SPARSH at the earliest.

In accordance with the MoU, more than 7,900 Bank of Baroda branches and 6,300 HDFC Bank branches will become service centres and provide last-mile connectivity to pensioners.

These centres would further add to the current network of more than 161 DAD offices, nearly 800 service centres provided by the State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank branches, and 14 Kotak Mahindra Bank branches,

SPARSH is a web-based system for processing pension claims and crediting the pension to defence pensioners' bank accounts without the need of a third party.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.