Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Apr 06, 2004
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Apr 06, 2004 |
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Money & Banking
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Public Sector Banks SBI cell for speedy clearance of loan applications Our Bureau
Coimbatore , April 5 THE Coimbatore Module of the State Bank of India (SBI) has formed a Centralised Processing Cell for speedy disposal of loan applications. The Deputy General Manager of SBI's Coimbatore Module, Mr W. Chanti Babu, told presspersons that the zonal office credit committee formed early last year had cleared 96 proposals aggregating Rs 82.22 crore. "All of this has been sanctioned during the last one year. We are now proposing to set up a centralised processing cell (CPC) with a team of credit experts under the leadership of a chief manager to process all high value advances in record time. "Once the CPC is in place, the proposals can be sent directly to the Chief Manager instead of routing the same through the AGMs. This will facilitate direct interaction between the CPC and the customer eliminating the other tiers. Branches would then be able to concentrate on business promotion, while the CPC will do the back office work," he explained. Mr Chanti Babu said that the bank proposed to establish special cells such as the housing loan processing cell, trade finance processing cell and agricultural finance processing cell at select branches within another two months. "It is not enough in just setting up a cell for quick disposal of loan applications. Banks have to strive at improving customer service too. We have, since April 1, started to offer the `Meeter-Greeter Service' to facilitate quick service, particularly in large-size branches," he said. On performance, he said the credit off take had surpassed targets, though the Module was a little slow on the deposit front. The retail network of 128 branches spread across 7 districts handled a business of Rs 6,440 crore. "Deposits grew by Rs 252 crore and advances by Rs 302 crore during 2003-04," he said and added that the bank has been aggressively canvassing for take over of advances. To a query on extension of credit to the agriculture sector, which had been hit badly because of the drought conditions prevailing in this belt, Mr Chanti Babu said "notwithstanding this situation, we have had a good year. Our financial assistance to agriculturists witnessed a net growth of Rs 60 crore. We have rephrased our loans in say, the tea industry, which has been adversely affected. This has helped us in keeping our NPA within manageable level. But on the contract- farming front, we have done exceedingly well. The recoveries have been very good. We are ready to take substantial exposure," he added. The DGM said that the bank intended to link the Kisan Credit Cards to the ATM. "It could take some time. But eventually it has to happen and it will help the farming community." The Coimbatore Module has extended over 34,000 Kisan Credit Cards totalling to Rs 264.40 crore. On Core Banking solution, he said that Coimbatore Module has been selected for the Pilot phase of the project. In phase I, the CBS is expected to be implemented in 8 of the 134 branches in this module before August this year. To a query on whether CBS would result in surplus manpower and how the bank proposed to deal with it, he said "we may have surplus, but it is not the heads that matter. We will need specialised staff and the recruitment process is on. Once CBS is in place, we will require hands for marketing and NPA recovery. Computers cannot do this work," he said. Reverting to NPA management, he said the module had done reasonably well in recoveries. He said that large value DRT cases were to be settled through Lok Adalat on April 24.
More Stories on : Public Sector Banks | Credit Market | Tamil Nadu
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