State Bank of India (SBI) needs to be larger in terms of capital infusion, SBI Chairman OP Bhatt said in the historic village of Sanchi today, adding: “There are four banks in China which are among top banks in the world. Why can’t we figure among top 50 banks in the world?”
After inaugurating the bank’s 1,000th branch in the Sanchi, he told Business Standard, “We will soon have 25,000 ATMs and 18,000 branches, the biggest (network) in terms of distribution. But in terms of capital, we stand at the 60th position in the world. We need more capital and merger of subsidiaries but there are policies outside. For the next four-five months, I don’t think this process will take shape as it is a time consuming process. But it is good for the bank in terms of capitalisation and efficiencies.”
On performance of the bank this financial year, Bhatt said, “Interest rate now seems to be steady till the next quarter. There is no pressure upon us. We are expecting better financial results and will achieve targets on all parameters. But market conditions are very volatile in such a scenario we need extended working hours, more women staff and banking accessibility in rural areas.” The bank has a plan to add more headcounts and of them 50 per cent would be women.
He also said, “We must not forget there are 400 million people who have no banking access, when we grow people think there could be risk but if we compare with one of the biggest bank in
France, we are far behind. In terms of population we should have 200,000 branches but we maintain our system with 180,000 branches, yet we are the biggest in the world.” State Bank of India has demanded permissions from government to merge its subsidiaries. It has so far amalgamated its subsidiaries State Bank of Indore and State Bank of Hyderabad.
