ICICI Bank gives green push to debit cards

In the coming months,ICICI Bankwill strive to establish a connection in the minds of its customers between using their debit cards and saving the planet.

Today, most people use debit cards to draw money from ATMs and spend the money at shops and restaurants. ICICI Bank wants its customers to use debit cards straightaway in shops and restaurants and thereby minimise the use of paper currency.

Less paper use is more environment-friendly.

The Reserve Bank of India's figures say that in 1935, India had 100 million pieces of currency notes in circulation. As at the end of March 2005, the notes in circulation were 36,985 million — or, about 370 times more.

"Imagine how much of energy, how much ink would be consumed in making the paper," says Dr Nachiket Mor, Deputy Managing Director, ICICI Bank.