Union Bank to set up colleges in Kerala, Varanasi

Union Bank of India, in association with the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), will set up entrepreneurial colleges in Kerala and Varanasi.

The college in Kerala will be operational in the current fiscal, said Union Bank of India executive director Rathnakar Hegde.

The centres would be operated in co-operation with Nabard and state governments, he added.

The colleges will impart entrepreneurial skills which will help establish alternative source of income for the rural youth as agricultural is a seasonal activity, he said on the sidelines of a press conference in Mumbai.

The bank will help create enterprise and then extend line of credit which will help reduce the default rates in priority sector advances, he said.

It will provide the necessary funding and Nabard will provide trainers who can equip the rural youth learn modern methods of cultivation, carpentry and other allied activities.

Speaking on the bank's expansion plans, Hegde said the bank is planning to set up 100 kiosks across in the country by the end of the current fiscal.

These kiosks will market its retail products and will also have the facility of conducting routine banking transaction.

The bank is in the process of seeking the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) approval.

The bank has ambitious growth plans of lending to the retail sectors and achieve a 55 per cent growth rate with additional disbursals of more than Rs 3,400 crore during the current fiscal.

With an aim to boost its retail lending, the bank yesterday inaugurated its second retail boutique. The bank has generated business of Rs 100 crore from its 'retail finance boutiques' in the first two days of their operation.

"The bank has already garnered business of Rs 50 crore each from two retail boutiques, providing services for products like home, automobile and educational loans, from the Ghatkopar and Bombay Stock Exchange branch," said Hegde.

Retail business is one of the fastest growing segment in the financial market and the bank plans to open boutiques in big cities, including Chennai and Kolkata.