Private sector banks, including ICICI Bank, cannot match their public sector competitors like the State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB). S C Gupta, chairman, Punjab National Bank (PNB), said: "Private sector banks cannot match public sector financial institutions like SBI and PNB. The private sector banks may pose a threat, but the situation of their taking-over us wouldn't arise. I will not immediately agree with the report that appeared in a section of the press." Gupta was reacting to a query whether ICICI was set to surpass SBI within three years.PNB did business of Rs 2,20,930 crore by the end of December with a total deposit of Rs 1,31,202 crore and advance of Rs 89,728 crore. The outstanding retail advances grew 47.7% at the end of September, 2006 to touch Rs 19,794 crore, constituting around 24.07% of the bank's gross advances, he said."Our branches have been expanded and rural networking strengthened. Manpower is decreasing leading to rise in the net profit of the bank which stood at Rs 873 crore during the first six months of the running financial year, registering a growth of 11.8% over corresponding period last year," he said.Gupta said the bank's private sector advances increase to Rs 36,615 crore at the end of September 2006, account for 44.17% of net bank credit against the national goal of 40%.
