Kerala-based State Bank of Travancore (SBT) is planning to switch over to a fully-automated loan processing system by 2014. SBT said it would kickstart the process from June this year.
SBT is also looking at raising capital. “We are in talks with the State Bank of India (SBI), which holds 75 per cent in the bank but cannot say what kind of amount they infuse,” said P Nanda Kumaran, managing director, SBT. He added that automated loan processing would help the bank to reduce bad loans and the fully-automated loan processing system would eliminate human interface for processing loan applications. He added it could help in data analysis and to give approvals speedily.
The gross non-performing assets of SBT are three per cent and net NPAs 1.75 per cent of the total. “It is slightly adverse. We are taking all efforts to control with the help of reports from external credit bureaus and internal assessment systems,” he said.
On expansion programme, Kumaran said that SBT, which has 954 branches and 950 ATMs across India, plans to add 46 more branches by March.
The bank’s focus will continue to be on retail and corporates.
While Kumar conceded that in the retail segment, the bank has lost some momentum, he said the bank will regain it. “Overall, we are aiming at 21 per cent growth (in retail),” he said.
The bank has a total business of more than Rs1,40,000 crore as on date. SBT’s market share in Kerala is 21 per cent as on June 2012. The bank has made a net profit of Rs510.46 crore during FY12. For the half year ended September 30, 2012, it stood at Rs317.07 crore.