Thread by @motherofbillis

Last screenshot from the chat -

There was a lot of buzz around this when it was launched, with bytes from the ED of Axis Bank. Our own community member @hiyer is helming this initiative. It was applauded all over social media and yet the reality is very different.

1.Branch employees seemed to have NO idea of this scheme. No awareness that it existed, and no willingness to believe it did until we showed them their own bank's website.
2. Everyone acted super awkard & distanced,which made us feel othered. Not really #DilSeOpen

3. We were told that this is the 1st time this is happening in Axis Bank so they had no idea how to deal with it. Surely on the launch of such a scheme, there'd be some sensitivity training across its branches and some clarity to employees on the processes they'd need to follow.

4. Our chat with the employee, while not an official response, was more revealing than anything. We have joint accounts with other members of their family, but we've never been asked why why we were insisting on opening a joint account with them, or if we wanted to murder them.

We didn't want to go to another bank. Here, we were promised equality. We were told to try at another branch but why should we not have the convenience of #ComeAsYouAre at our local branch?If @AxisBank is open & and inclusive,I'm sure this doesn't extend only to a few branches

5. If this was our experience in wanting to do something as simple as open a joint savings account, I dread to think how it would be for people who are scared to come out about themselves, in Mumbai or elsewhere, and take the big step of doing so in front of bank officials.

My final thoughts don't fit in one tweet. Please read through this @hiyer @RajkamalVempati @fayedsouza

It's been brought to my attention that the name of the Axis Bank employee wasn't erased from all screenshots. Was not my intention to doxx them. Re-upload ing the chats with the trainee who reached out to us.