Say Hello to Lakshmi, India’s First Robot to Be Appointed Customer Care Executive at a Bank

City Union Bank is planning to install a robot in its T. Nagar branch in Chennai to answer customer queries. The robot called Lakshmi reached the city on Thursday. It is two-feet tall and will be placed in the bank lobby to greet customers and explain different services to them along with talking about the bank’s history, deposit and lending rates, special schemes for student, interest rates on home loans, details of fixed deposit closure, etc. City Union Bank with be the first private sector bank in India to use a robot with artificial intelligence as an on-site bank helper.

Currently, Lakshmi will be installed on a pilot basis in one branch. It has been imported from France and was customised in Coimbatore.

Source: Twitter

It took six months to develop and will be able to answer queries on over 125 subjects as of now. The robot will respond in English during the pilot phase and will be programmed to answer in regional languages in the coming months. Apart from answering generic questions, it has also been programmed to work on core banking solutions like providing account details, transaction history, ordering cheque books etc. The robot will talk out loud only on generic questions and financial information like account details will be displayed discreetly on its screen.

“A recent study said staffers spent most of the time answering some 120 basic questions. About 95 per cent of the questions asked by customers were repetitive. We have fed the inputs and Lakshmi will be able to answer them,” N. Kamakodi, City Union Bank Managing Director and CEO told The Hindu. He added that after seeing the response to Lakshmi in the first three months, the bank is planning to install 25-30 robots in different branches.

“Since its artificial intelligence, the robot is constantly learning from customers – the more interactions it has with customers the better it gets,” bank executive told The Times of India.

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