Sparsh services will now be available in over 26,000 branches of a total of 15 banks across the country
The Defence Accounts Department (DAD), Ministry of Defence has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with Bank of India, Canara Bank, Central Bank of India and Utkarsh Small Finance Bank in New Delhi for onboarding them as SPARSH [Pension Administration System (Defence)] Service Centres in 1,128 branches of the four banks across the country. The MoU will provide seamless connectivity to pensioners, especially in remote areas where they do not have the technical means to log on to SPARSH.
These Seva Kendras will become an interface for pensioners to touch the waters, providing an effective medium for updating their profiles, lodging grievances, digital annual identification, data verification besides obtaining detailed information about their monthly pension. Access to these centres will be provided free of cost, with a nominal service charge to be borne by the DAD.
With these MoUs, SPARSH services will now be available in over 26,000 branches of a total of 15 banks across the country. This is in addition to the 199 dedicated service centres of the Department of Defence and over 3.75 lakh Common Service Centres across the country. It is worth mentioning that SPARSH is an initiative of the Ministry of Defence aimed at providing comprehensive solutions to defence pensioners. It is a fundamental shift in the management of defence pensions as it focuses on bringing efficiency, accountability and transparency.
