The Hindu Business Line : PNB reorganises zonal structure

PUNJAB National Bank has reorganised its zonal structure to achieve further business growth and also to ensure better customer service in a competitive environment. This reorganisation has led to setting up of seven additional zonal offices.

The new offices are North Delhi Zone, Delhi; Punjab (North) zone, Amritsar; J&K Zone, Jammu; North Eastern Zone, Guwahati; Orissa Zone, Bhubaneshwar; Andhra Pradesh zone, Hyderabad and Karnataka zone, Bangalore. With the setting up of seven additional zones, PNB in all has 25 zonal and 48 regional offices.

Inaugurating the newly constituted Delhi (North) zone here on Monday, Mr S.C. Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of PNB, said the bank was witnessing strong demand for credit in sectors such as infrastructure in line with the projected economic growth.

PNB is looking to grow its business (advances and deposits) to Rs 2,00,000 crore mark this fiscal.

The bank expects deposits to cross Rs 1,15,000 crore in 2005-06 from Rs 1,03,167 crore in 2004-05 and loan advances to grow from Rs 60,413 crore to Rs 72,000 crore. Till September, its business stood at Rs 1,73,282 crore.

Mr Gupta said PNB's performance in lending to priority sector including agriculture sector was well ahead of the targets till December 2005.

The net interest margin of the bank, which increased from 3.76 per cent in March 2005 to 3.9 per cent in September, will remain around 3.85-3.95 per cent by March 2006.