Eid Al Fitr 2019: SBP relaunches 8877 SMS service for issuance of fresh currency notes

KARACHI - State Bank of Pakistan, through its subsidiary SBP Banking Services Corporation has relaunched the SMS service (8877) for issuance of fresh currency notes to the general public.

The fresh currency notes will be available from designated commercial bank branches called "e-branches" and the sixteen field offices of SBP-BSC. The booking of the service shall commence from May 19, while the issuance of fresh currency through mobile SMS service will start from May 20, and will continue till May 31, 2019, said SBP press release on Friday.

The service will be provided through 1702 e-branches and 16 SBP-BSC offices in 142 cities across Pakistan to ensure maximum geographical coverage.

The charges for the service are Rs 1.50 plus tax per SMS.

The branch IDs of designated e-branches are available at SBP website http://www.sbp.org.pk, PBA website http://www.pakistanbanks.org,commercial banks websites and will also be displayed prominently outside designated e-branches.

It may be noted that the branch ID for e-branch is different from the existing branch/SWIFT code of banks. Under this facility, a person may send an SMS message comprising his/her 13 digits CNIC/Smart card number along with the desired e-branch ID [e.g. 32453-3454432-1(space) KHI001] to short code 8877.

In return, the person will receive an SMS containing redemption code, e-branch address and the code validity period. Redemption code received by the customer will be valid for two working days as per the mentioned dates in the SMS.

The customer may then approach the concerned e-branch along with his/her original CNIC/Smart card, a photocopy of the CNIC/Smart card and transaction code received from 8877 to obtain fresh currency notes. An individual can obtain three packets of Rs 10 and one packet each of Rs 50 and Rs 100.

It is also notified that each CNIC/Smart card number or mobile phone number can only be used once.

No transaction code will be issued to the sender in case he/she sends the same CNIC/Smart card number from different mobile numbers or sends different CNIC/Smart card numbers from same mobile number during the service.

Further, the system shall provide the fresh currency notes on the first-come, first served basis and new bookings shall be closed once the system reaches its capacity. For any queries/complaints, the general public may contact the SBP BSC helpdesk at UAN (021) 111-008-877.

The helpdesk facility will only be available during office hours.