SIB opens branch at Thriuvankulam

The South Indian Bank has inaugurated its core banking solutions (CBS) enabled branch at Thriuvankulam near Kochi. The bank is also planning to expand its operations to three more states during this fiscal.

The Thrissur-based bank already has the second largest network among the old generation private sector banks in India. The bank, which is present in 19 states now, would start operating in 22 states by March 2006.

It has obtained the licence to spread its reach to Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa with branches in Bhopal, Indore, Lucknow and Bhuvaneswar during this fiscal, said V A Joseph, chairman and CEO, SIB. SIB has also applied for licences for new branches in Uttaranchal, Assam and Jarkhand.

Plans for a branch in unrepresented locations such as Jammu are also on the anvil. The expansion programme will take the total branch network of SIB from the 433 branches at present to 450 by the end of this fiscal.

By the end of this fiscal, SIB is expecting to reach a net worth of around Rs 600 crore compared with Rs 450 crore as on March 31, 2005.

The bank has set a target of achieving a total business of Rs 16,000 crore during the ongoing financial year, up 15 per cent from Rs 14,000 crore registered during the preceding year.

Further, by initiating aggressive recovery measures, SIB is planning to bring down the net NPA percentage significantly from the last year's level of 3.81 per cent.

Also, the bank aims to achieve total business of Rs 25,000 crore by the end of 2008 with a network of 500 branches covering about 22 states and an estimated net worth of about 1,000 crore.