SBI Andhra circle eyes 140% growth in deposits

The State Bank of India (SBI), Andhra Pradesh circle, is expecting a growth of 140 per cent in deposits this fiscal.

Last fiscal, the circle mobilised deposits to the tune of Rs 950 crore, while the deposits up to December this fiscal rose to Rs 2,000 crore. The bank expects the total new deposits to increase to Rs 2,300 crore by the end of March 2006.

"During this fiscal, we have enrolled six lakh new savings bank accounts' customers through our existing branches which is why we expect our deposits to grow to Rs 2,000 crore," said P Jagadish Babu, general manager, SBI, on the sidelines of launching of the 'SBI-Freedom Home Loan' scheme at the Visakhapatnam zonal office.

During last fiscal, the bank sanctioned Rs 2,300 crore as advances in the entire circle, whereas this year by the end of December, the bank sanctioned Rs 3,537 crore of loans. He said Rs 200-300 crore more would be sanctioned by the end of this fiscal. "Owing to the efforts of the outbound sales team and centralised loan application processing centres, the advances have increased significantly," he added.

SBI's priority lending areas are the agricultural sector, home loans, self-help groups and small and medium industrial sectors. "Up to December, the bank advanced Rs 1,000 crore as agricultural loans as against Rs 750 crore during the entire last fiscal. We will provide Rs 200 crore more by the end of March 2006," he stated.

During the current fiscal, the bank has so far extended a financial assistance of Rs 400 crore to 1.34 lakh self-help groups in the state as against Rs 135 crore last fiscal. Up to December, advances for small and medium industries stood at Rs 1,027 crore as against Rs 650 crore during the entire last fiscal. "In the current year, our housing loans target is Rs 1,200 crore. It was Rs 900 crore by the end of December 2005," he said.

The SBI's AP circle is targeting to reduce the gross NPA to below 3 per cent by the end of this fiscal. "By the end of March 2005, our gross NPA was 6.5 per cent. It came down to 3.5 per cent by December. Our aim is to reduce it to below 3 per cent by March 2006," he said.

The bank has opened 35 ATMs across the state and is expecting to open 50 more by the end of March.

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Tapping the potential

The bank's Andhra Pradesh circle expects the total new deposits to increase to Rs 2,300 crore by the end of March 2006

It expects to sanction Rs 200-300 crore more as loans by the end of this fiscal

Targets Rs 1,200-crore housing loans by the year-end