IBM inks 10-year deal with Gujarat cooperative bank

Information technology major IBM India has signed a 10-year IT service agreement with Sardar Bhiladwala Pardi People's Cooperative Bank in Gujarat, the company said on Monday.

"The operational expenditure in the pay-as-you-use model will enable the leading cooperative bank to save up to 50 per cent in its capex (capital expenditure) on IT infrastructure," IBM said in a statement from its Bangalore headquarters.

As part of the deal, IBM India will provide the 80-year-old bank 'managed continuity services' comprising server management, network and security management and back-up and database management.

"This is a strategic win for us. It will enable us to focus on helping financial services clients," IBM India director for integrated technology services Neeraj Sharma said. The bank's IT infrastructure requirements will be met remotely from IBM's global management centre in Bangalore.

The company, however, did not specify the value of the deal.

"The deal with IBM will help us to enhance service offerings to our diverse customers, especially farmers, small traders and artisans," the bank's chairman Ajay C Shah said.

The deal follows IBM's earlier pacts with banks such as Madhav Nagrik Sahakari Cooperative Bank in Rajasthan and Kurmanchal Nagar Sahkari Bank at Nainital in Uttarakhand.

The Pardi People's Cooperative Bank was established back in December 1929 to provide loans at low interest rate to farmers, small traders and artisans. The bank was recognised as a scheduled cooperative bank in 2000 by the Reserve Bank of India.