SBI circle in MP to focus on small business

The State Bank of India's (SBI's) Bhopal circle, which covers Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, plans to focus on small businesses, micro-financing, and small-and-medium enterprises(SMEs) to extend its base.

The bank plans to extend financial support to 15,000 units in both the states by micro-financing units through self-help groups. "We are focusing more on SMEs this year," S Bhattacharya, chief general manager, SBI Bhopal circle, told Business Standard today.

The bank plans to extend a credit of Rs 150 crore to small businesses and Rs 115 crore in small-scale industries. The Bhopal circle has clocked a profit of Rs 504 crore this year, against Rs 351 crore in the previous year. "The loan portfolio to SMEs stands at Rs 3942 crore," he informed.

The circle is particularly satisfied with the results of schemes to small traders like mortgage loan to traders. The bank claims it has distributed 2,753 SME credit till date and its artisan credit cards" and swarojgar credit cards schemes provided a hassle-free financial support to their users.

However, according to data available with Business Standard, out of the targeted 23,430 swarojgar credit cards in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, SBI has issued about 123, amounting to Rs 37 lakh so far, while the Central Bank of India and Bank of India have issued 1082 credit cards and 1026 credit cards respectively, to disburse an amount of Rs 274 lakh and Rs 291 lakh.

A state level bankers committee(SLBC) has also expressed concern over the poor performance of the credit cards. The 53 banks have so far distributed only 8,896 cards.

"A sub-committee has been constituted to find out the reasons for this dismal show," VN Saxena, chairman, SLBC said.

With deposits surging at Rs 16,914 crore, the bank plans to add Rs 2,100 crore in the present financial year by attracting five-and-a-half lakh customers.