The Bangalore-based public sector lender, Canara Bank, today said it aims to touch an aggregate business mix of Rs 4 lakh crore, compared to Rs 325,000 crore as of March 2009, a growth of 23 per cent over last year. The total business will comprise of Rs 2,25,000 crore deposits and Rs 1,75,000 crore advances.
Addressing a press conference, here today, A C Mahajan, chairman and managing director, Canara Bank said, the bank has increased its education loan portfolio to Rs 2,652 crore as of September 2009, recording a year-on-year growth of 30 per cent, covering over 150,000 students.
The outstanding credit under retail lending operations rose 16 per cent to Rs 20,608 crore as of September 2009, with a disbursal of Rs 3,291 crore during the first half of the present fiscal. Advances under housing recorded a 25.4 per cent growth to touch Rs 8,230 crore. Housing portfolio, with a significant portion in priority ambit, constituted about 40 per cent of the retail portfolio.
Under small, micro and medium enterprises segment, the bank’s credit grew 33 per cent year-on-year to reach Rs 27,029 crore when compared to a year ago. With a credit disbursement of Rs 2,439 crore to agriculture during the first half, outstanding agricultural advances rose to Rs 22,583 crore, covering around 2.6 million farmers. Credit to agriculture recorded a year-on-year growth of over 20 per cent, Mahajan added.
The bank is also opening its second branch in the UK at Leicester in the next three months and a representative office in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. The bank presently has three overseas branches, which includes one each in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Mahajan said the bank was also in the process of expanding its domestic branch network during the year. It plans to open 104 new branches to mark its 104th anniversary, across the country. The bank has already opened 128 branches this fiscal. By March 2010 its branch strength will touch 3,000, he said.
The tally under core banking solution increased to 1,591 branches, covering 87.5 per cent of the total business. With over 2,000 ATMs, the bank has a debit card base of 6.5 million as at Septemer 2009.
The number of branches offering anywhere banking and Internet, and mobile banking services expanded to 2,084 and 1,591 branches respectively.
