)
Sudhirkumar Jain, chairman and managing director of Syndicate Bank, has ruled out the possibility of merging all regional rural banks sponsored by the Syndicate Bank at the national level.
Putting an end to speculations that all of them would be merged, Jain said on Monday that as per the directions of the Finance Ministry, the sponsoring banks alone can merge the RRBs at the state level.Jain was replying to queries during his visit to the Karnataka Vikas Grameen Bank (KVGB) in Dharwad on Monday.
The Syndicate Bank has sponsored four RRBs which are in different states. There is a proposal to merge the RRBs in Gurgoan and hopefully, the other RRBs in Gurgoan sponsored by other nationalised banks would also be merged into the RRBs sponsored by Syndicate Bank, he said.
Jain released the Rupay Kissan credit card for the use of the farmers and Rupay debit card for the general public launched by KVGB. He said, of the four RRBs run by Syndicate Bank, the KVGB has earned the highest net profit and stands second in the country in terms of business. This bank has attained the number one position in south India among all RRBs. The bank has a gross NPA (non-performing assets) of 1.58 per cent.He said the KVGB is in the process of establishing ATMs in 75 places in the present year.
Jain said, all RRBs of Syndicate Bank are fully-computerized and on Core Banking Solutions platform having systems driven NPAs. All RRBs are continuously earning profits despite over 70 per cent of the branches being in rural areas, he noted.
On expansion of Syndicate Bank, Jain said, the Syndicate Bank, would be opening 200 new branches across the country. Jain said, the economy is undergoing tough times as there's no growth in investments. There is a stress on the system as the GDP growth has fallen below 5 per cent. This apart, the NPA in the last two years has risen high and there is a need to initiate new measures for the revival of economy.
