State Bank of India (SBI) is preparing to significantly expand AI-led cheque processing by raising its automated processing limit from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1 lakh. The move could bring more than 50-55% of the bank’s cheque volumes under automated processing and reduce operational costs.
“Very soon, it is going to become 1 lakh rupees. In that case, almost more than 50-55 per cent of our checks in terms of number will be processed through this automated model and that will take care of a lot of my cost,” SBI Chief Information Officer Abhay Kishore Pandey said.
SBI currently uses image-based AI models for cheque truncation and automatically processes cheques up to Rs 10,000, covering around 25% of its total cheque volume. Vision LLMs read the cheques, verify mandatory fields and check compliance requirements. A control risk unit reviews samples to identify errors and determine whether the models need further training.
Pandey said the broader goal is to reduce backend workload and allow employees to spend more time serving customers. “The entire focus is on the cost optimisation, how to serve our customer at a much cheaper pace so that the people who are working on those lines should concentrate more on interacting with the customer and serving the customer rather than processing the backend,” he said.
SBI spends more than $2 billion annually on technology and is increasing investment in AI platforms and infrastructure. “We are going for a much, much bigger investment in AI-based things so that the entire AI platform and framework is in place at the enterprise level and that is going to reduce our cost in the long run,” Pandey said.
The bank also wants AI to help serve more customers without increasing its workforce proportionately and improve customer lifetime value.
In FY26, SBI used AI-led underwriting for nearly Rs 1 trillion in MSME loans of up to Rs 5 crore each. The models use GST data, credit bureau scores, account information and other structured and unstructured data. SBI has also reported lower NPAs in portfolios assessed through its business rule engine.
AI is now a regular board-level discussion at SBI. The bank plans to combine LLMs and SLMs with internal data, external datasets and public credit bureau information to speed up lending decisions as demand for smaller loans grows.
(Sources: The Economic Times)
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