Kotak Bank to focus more on farm credit

After opening three branches in Chandigarh, Phagwara and Kapurthala, Kotak Mahindra Bank recently announced concentrating on agricultural credit in Punjab.

"We have achieved around 50 per cent of the growth in agricultural credit during this fiscal against that of the pervious fiscal. Concentrating more on agricultural credit, we have planned to cover the entire cotton belt in Punjab with special focus on Bathinda," said Uday S Kotak, vice- chairman and managing sirector of Kotak Mahindra Bank.

"The total agricultural credit of the bank during the fiscal was about Rs 400 crore, which is expected to grow at a higher rate now after the opening up of three new branches in Punjab and one more to be opened in Mohali by the end of this fiscal," he said.

"We converted ourselves into a bank in 2003, and are intensifying operations in Punjab by opening three new branches with two prime objectives: first, more than just banking, we want to provide complete customer solutions, and secondly, we want to exploit the potential in this region," he added.

"Apart from giving direct advances to farmers, funds would be made available to the food-processing industry, transporters, commission agents and people who are directly linked with the agribusiness," he said, adding that "we have categorised all these sectors as priority sectors, which constitutes 40 per cent of our total advances."