With its number of branches in Gujarat set to touch 100, Canara Bank is eyeing a Rs 8000 crore business for the financial year 2011-12.
The public sector bank is planning to add another 20 branches to the current 80 in the state. While Canara Bank saw Rs 1000 crore worth advances being made to the small and medium enterprises (SME) sector out of a total business of Rs 6444 crore in fiscal 2010-11, the bank has set up a specific SME cell in Gujarat to boost further business.
"We have been doing better than the minimum criteria required in priority banking. By setting up a SME cell, we hope to bag more business from the sector," said Archana Bhargav, executive director, Canara Bank.
Similarly, to boost further business from non-resident Indians segment, the bank has also set up an NRI cell in Ahmedabad, Bhargava. By March 2011, the bank's total business in Gujarat was Rs 6444 crore, comprising deposits worth Rs 3490 crore and advances worth Rs 2954 crore.
"Credit to deposit ratio in Gujarat works out to be 84.64 per cent. We intend to increase our presence by opening more number of branches. More than 26 per cent of total bank finance in India is in Gujarat. Which is why, as part of Vibrant Gujarat Summit 2011, our bank signed memorandums of understanding (MoU) worth Rs 10,000 crore," Bhargava.
Under financial inclusion, the bank has been allotted six villages in Gujarat and Silvassa. The state government has also offered to provide land to Canara Bank for setting up its second Rural Development and Self Employment Training Institutes (RUDSETIs) in Gujarat.
"We already a RUDSETI running in Piplag village of Kheda district in Gujarat. We intend to set up a second such institute, land for which will be provided by the state government soon,"Bhargava added.