State Bank of India (SBI), Madras circle, comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Pondicherry, has fixed a target of Rs 12,000 crore for deposits and Rs 8000 crore for advances for 1998-99.
The new targets are Rs 2000 crore more for deposits and Rs 1000 crore more for advances as compared to 1997-98, R Nagarajan, chief general manager said. He told reporters in Chennai that the advances to the small-scale industries sector would go up from Rs 1400 crore to Rs 1650 crore and the advances to the agriculture sector to Rs 1350 cr, from Rs 1,100 crore fixed for last year.
Nagarajan said SBI which already has nearly 8900 branches all over the country with about 2.60 lakh employees, would be celebrating its centenary in July this year. The bank now has 52 overseas branches. 3 more units (branches) would be opened in Russia, Canada and South Africa. SBI, as of now, had no branches in Islamic countries because the governments there did not allow opening of Indian banks, he added.
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Replying to a question on how SBI was tackling competition from private and foreign banks now, Nagarajan said cheaper lending rates, quicker service and the huge branch network were advantageous to SBI and as such it was not facing any problem.
He said the SBI would be launching its credit card system by July or August this year.
There were 805 branches in the Madras circle.Four ATMs would be started in Coimbatore, Ernakulam ,Nungambakkam and Adyar in 1998-99, as there was not much response from the public.
There are 105 computerised branches in this circle.The deputy general manager of the circle, S Pandurangan, said two per cent of the banks profits are earmarked every year for providing community service to the poor .
In 1997-98, Rs 26 crore was spent on providing community services in the circle.