Pvt banks look for tie-ups with corporate giants in Punjab

With the advent of corporate giants like Reliance, Godrej Agrovet, Bharti in the agri-sector in Chandigarh, the private sector banks are now concentrating on priority sector lending.

They are looking for tie-ups with the corporate giants so that they can lend to the farmers who are into contract farming.

According to the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) data, up to June 2006, of Punjab and Haryana, private sector banks had very few branches in rural and semi-urban areas.

In Haryana, they have four branches in rural areas, while in semi-urban areas they have 23 branches.

The public sector banks have 452 branches in rural areas and 373 branches in semi-urban areas. In Punjab, the private sector banks have 13 branches in rural areas and 98 branches in semi-urban areas.

Commenting upon the rural expansion plans, Jagdish Capoor, chairman of HDFC Bank, said, "We have approached the Reserve Bank of India for opening 200 branches across the country, which is under discussion. Of these, one-fourth will be in rural and semi-urban areas."

However, he refused to give the number of branches in Punjab and Haryana.

He added, "We are in talks with Godrej Agrovet, Reliance, Bharti, which are venturing into the agri-sector in a big way for tie-ups so that we can lend to farmers."

He said we would launch financing schemes for providing farm equipment and to facilitate horticulture farming in Punjab.

Sources in ICICI Bank said the bank received permission from the RBI to open branches in rural areas and off-site ATMs in semi-urban centres.

They said ICICI and HDFC Bank had plans to open 500 branches in rural, semi-urban and urban areas.