State Bank of India and other banks insist that you cannot use your mobile phone inside banks. This is nonsense because there are no laws against it

Moneylife Digital Team

Almost everyone carries a mobile phone with him/her all the time and across places. Although, the use of a mobile phone is banned in certain places like airplanes and hospitals and while driving, one can use it at all other public places, provided it does not cause nuisance to others. However, one of our readers was asked to switch off his mobile in a state-run bank.

According to the reader Gopinath Prabhu, he was asked to switch of his mobile when he had gone to a branch of State Bank of India (SBI). “I have visited a couple of branches of SBI for personal work, wherein I have seen that the signboards to switch off mobiles. In one instance I was asked to switch off my mobile when I got an important call. I am also utterly surprised that I have not seen any such restriction of mobile phone by your staff within the bank,” Mr Prabhu wrote in his complaint to SBI.

SBI, however, denied that there are any restrictions on use of mobile phone in bank premises. “No such instructions have been issued to the branches restricting the use of mobile phones by customers. As you rightly observed, branches may request the customers to put their mobiles in silent mode or not to talk loudly in the bank premises as it may cause public nuisance,” said the reply from SBI Customer Service Department.

While both Mr Prabhu and SBI are right, it has been observed that several times the customers have been robbed by distraction, mostly mobile phone. People engrossed in a conversation or listening to music are easy targets for thieves as their attention is often distracted. The most common method used by thieves is to stand near the cashier window and then try to distract the customer, who had withdrawn sizable cash. The thieves usually drop their own mobile and then ask the customer if it belongs to him/her. After distracting the unsuspecting customer, the thieves then manage to take away the money he had withdrawn, in a flash.

This may be reason, why there are signboards in several banks asking customers not to use mobile phones in the premises. Mostly such signboards are placed near the cashier’s window.

While Mr Prabhu switched off his mobile after the insistence of the bank staff, here is the icing on the cake. Another staff member from SBI, who wanted to transfer mobile banking software on to Mr Prabhu’s mobile, asked him to switch on his mobile inside the bank premises!