Post merger of State Bank of Saurashtra (SBS) with the State Bank of India (SBI), the latter now aims to consolidate on its presence in the Gujarat circle. Having advanced loans worth Rs 35,000 crore, SBI is hoping to take the number to Rs 45,000 crore advances in Gujarat by the end of financial year 2010-11.
Of these, the bank plans to advance loans worth Rs 16,000 crore, up from Rs 13,000 crore in FY 2009-10, to large enterprises, apart from Rs 29,000 crore to SMEs, agriculture and retail verticals. "During 2009-10, the Gujarat circle has posted a growth of 11.86 per cent in aggregate deposits worth Rs 49,911 crore. To this, we will be adding Rs 12,867 crore worth deposits at a growth rate of 25 per cent by end of fiscal 2010-11. Over the period, about 9.06 lakhs savings bank accounts were added in the books of the bank," said P Nanda Kumaran, chief general manager, State Bank of India.
Home loan portfolio of the circle stood at Rs 5,060 crore by March 2010 and is targeted to reach a level of Rs 7,700 crore covering more than 1,00,000 home owners by the year-end. SBI is maintaining a turn around time of six days in home loan sanctioning process, said Kumaran. In 2009-10, The circle has registered a phenomenal growth in home loans registering an increase of Rs 1,492 crore (46.30 per cent) during 2009-10. As many as 21,596 new home loans were sanctioned during the year, taking the total number of such accounts to 97,860 at the end of March 2010.
Talking further about the bank's network expansion in Gujarat, Kumaran said, "Gujarat circle has 1,071 branches, five service branches and 47 processing cells as of June 30, 2010. We have opened 71 branches during 2009-10 consisting of 39 rural, 12 semi-urban, 8 urban and 12 metro branches. About 70 branches are slated to be opened in the current year."
SBI's Gujarat circle already has a network of 1,246 ATMs as of now, while the bank plans to add about 350 more ATMs during the current year.
"With 77,266 mobile banking registrations and availability of ATMs at 97.40 per cent we hope to make a difference in terms of reaching out to customers through alternate channels, which augurs well for the future.
The increase in branches has also created opportunities for employment since the circle has added more than 1,500 personnel to its workforce within the past 18 months," Kumaran added.