Country's second largest MNC lender by balance-sheet size Citi India claims over 40 percent of its nearly 2 million customers access banking services online and close to 60 percent receive only e-statements, a trend which it hopes will probably beat the deficiency of fewer branches.

"Our digital platform is the largest channel of customer service and engagement. Over 50 percent of all customer contacts with the bank are digital," Citi India digital business head Gowri Mukherjee told PTI here on Tuesday.

The bank refused to share its total customer base, saying that is not its practice here, however it is learnt that the American lender serves around 2 million customers in the country through its various services.

PTI could not verify the veracity of the numbers as it has been done internally.

"Over 40 percent of our customers use the online banking facility and close to 60 percent have signed up for e-statements, while nearly 90 percent of all customer communication is now electronic," she informed.

The digital platform attracts more usage/ customers than the combined usage across all other channels like ATMs, phone banking, branches and regular mails, she claimed.

Citi, which opened its first branch 109 years ago in Calcutta, operates 42 branches across 30 cities in the country now, and is the largest foreign direct investor in the financial services space with around USD4 billion capital commitment in its onshore banking and financial services business. It operates and over 700 ATMs and employs around 7,400 people.

But with 1.21 percent net NPA ratio, its bad loan is also one of the biggest among the foreign banks-the seventh highest NPA among the top ten MNC banks to be precise, according to the latest Reserve Bank data.

According to the RBI data, Citi is the second largest foreign lender in the country in terms of assets with Rs 56,668 crore in deposits and Rs 40,597 crore in advances as of end 2010, while this American lender is the largest in terms of capital, reserves and surpluses at Rs 14,961 crore.