SBI will strive to regain lost marketshare: Bhatt

The country's largest bank, State Bank of India (SBI) will strive to regain
its lost market share over the next 2 years, its chairman O P Bhatt said
on his first day in office.

"We are a big bank and I want it to be a great bank with improvement in
efficiency and quality of service to customers. SBI wants to increase its
market back to 19% from the current 17% in the next 2 years," Bhatt said on Saturday.

Making it clear customer focus and quality of service will be a top
priority, the new chairman admitted that "somewhere down the line there is a disconnect between bank staff and customers. The bank will lay greater
emphasis on changing employee attitude and increasing the product portfolio to give customers a better deal.

SBI would step up focus on the agriculture sector in FY07, apart from
retail and small and medium enterprises (SME) segment. The bank expects credit to grow by over 25% (29% in FY06) in FY07 and deposits by 17% (about 14% last year).

On any possibility of a hike in lending and deposit interest rates, Bhatt
said there is ample liquidity in the system and there is no pressure on the
bank to raise rates. SBI raised its prime lending rate (PLR) by 25 basis
points to 11.25% with effect from May 1, 2006.

The bank expects to raise Rs 2,500 crore of additional capital to implement the Basel II capital adequacy norms and also support credit growth. It raised Rs 2,300 crore of Tier II capital in June. It would require to allocate about Rs 2,500 crore of capital for operational risk, a new inclusion in the Basel II capital adequacy framework which also requires capital allocation for credit and market risks.

Referring to growth in business in overseas markets, Bhatt said "Indian
businesses are growing rapidly overseas and there is also a phenomenal
increase in global interest in the Indian market. SBI, being the largest
Indian bank, will definitely expand business presence abroad by opening
branches, offices, acquiring banks that fit business plans and forge
partnership including joint venture, to serve the emerging needs of Indian
businesses."