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Targeting higher business volume

Coimbatore May 1 Bank of Baroda plans to open another 15 SME loan factories this year, its Chairman and Managing Director, Dr Anil K. Khandelwal, said.

Dr Khandelwal was here to inaugurate the bank's 16th SME loan factory.

Addressing newspersons, he said such specialised outfits with centralised processing of applications helped in hassle-free sanction of credit to the SMEs at the right time.

The bank has, since starting this initiative three months ago, sanctioned credit to the tune of Rs 2,200 crore to the SME sector alone. "We have disbursed Rs 1,200 crore already."

"We plan to open similar loan factories for the SMEs in Hyderabad and Bangalore among other tier-II cities."

Focus on SOuth

The bank, he indicated, would focus on South and Central India in terms of strengthening its branch network. "Out of the 50 new branches that we plan to open this year, 15 would be in the South," Dr Khandelwal said.

There are 275 branches in the South at present. "We would add about 20 branches every year. Take it to 300 this year," he said.

The bank is targeting a business volume of Rs 2,60,000 crore this fiscal against Rs 2,00,000 crore last year. "We had surpassed the target to reach Rs 2,08,537 crore at the end of the just concluded fiscal. We had set five goals — business volume of Rs 2,00,000 crore, Rs 1,000 crore profit, lowering the NPA level significantly, offer online banking service in 1,000 branches and take the number of ATMs to 1,000. We surpassed all these targets," he said.

Insurance, MF ventures

The bank has finalised its venture partner on the insurance front.

"We have tied up with UK's Legal and General insurance company for doing the insurance business. After finalising the third party, we will go to the IRDA for clearance."

"We have finalised a deal with Pioneer Group of Italy for doing mutual funds business," he said.

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