A pioneering Initiative in the Indian banking sector to serve customers
with hearing or speech impairments
Mumbai: Bank of Baroda (Bank),
India’s International Bank, today announced the launch of Indian Sign Language
(ISL) support through video calls at its Contact Centre. This first-of-its-kind
initiative in the Indian banking sector enables customers with hearing or
speech impairments to seamlessly access banking assistance through
specially trained ISL interpreters who will assist
customers via video interaction.
The service is available across five key customer touch
points: the Bank of Baroda website, the bob World mobile banking app, WhatsApp
Banking, Phygital Branches, and ADI, the Bank’s GenAI-powered chatbot. Customers
opting for the video call feature can choose between ‘Video Call with Voice’
and ‘Video Call with Sign Language.’ Upon selecting the Sign Language option,
the call is routed to a trained agent for real-time assistance.
To
support this initiative, the Bank has undertaken a special hiring initiative to on-board customer service associates trained in Indian Sign Language
to effectively serve customers with hearing or speech impairments.
Commenting on the launch, Dr.
Debadatta Chand, Managing Director & CEO, Bank of Baroda said,
“By integrating Indian Sign Language
support into our Contact Centre operations, Bank of Baroda is addressing a
critical gap in providing accessible banking services. This initiative enables customers
with hearing or speech impairments to manage their banking needs independently,
with dignity and ease, while setting a new benchmark in the industry. It reinforces our commitment to inclusive, technology-driven and customer-centric
banking.”
The Sign Language support
service will be available from 09:00 AM to 06:00 PM, and will cover all non-financial
banking services, assistance with digital banking
products and services, general banking queries, and support for product
enquiries and service requests.
The
introduction of ISL support further strengthens the Bank’s efforts to enhance
accessibility and empowers customers with hearing or speech impairments to
engage with banking services confidently and without barriers.