BoB sees Rs 7,000 cr income from central zone

The central zone of Bank of Baroda (BoB), which covers five districts including Anand and Vadodara, expects to close the current fiscal with a business of Rs 7,000 crore.

The Vadodara-based bank also expects to meet the deadlines for automated teller machine (ATMs) network expansion and computerisation of branches.

"Being a Vadodara-based bank, central Gujarart is an important territory for us to deal with. We aim to open 25 ATMs at selected locations in Anand, Nadiad, Kambey and Panchmahal by March 2005. We also expect to close this year with business worth Rs 7,000 crore from deposits and advances," said M L Rathi, deputy general manager and zonal in charge for central Gujarat. BoB was established in 1908 in Vadodara.

In the current year the central Gujarat zone has net deposits of Rs 5,190 crore and Rs 1,500 crore from advances. The deposits and advances as on June 2003 were about Rs 4,800 crore and Rs 1,400 crore, respectively.

At present, BoB has 10 ATMs located in the region with 221 branches. "The selection of centres for ATMs is already over and we are doing site selection. We also aim to computerise all our branches in central Gujarat by the end of December. So far we have computerised 141 branches that deliver over 80 per cent of business," said Rathi.

The bank has also started a recovery drive in the region by issuing 80 notices to defaulters under the Securitisation Act.

"The bank employees will be able to devote more time for recovery once the computerisation is being done in all the branches. We are nearing the targets of reducing non-performing assets," said Rathi. BoB is also focusing on education and rural banking sectors with promotional activities.

The bank has also announced one per cent concession in the rate of interest on educational loans to women beneficiaries in view of the higher illiteracy rate among women.