• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Mr M.S. Sundara Rajan

R.S. Rangarajan

Madurai, Feb. 11 “We attach importance to retaining a customer and impress upon our staff to have empathy, not sympathy,” said Mr M.S. Sundara Rajan, Chairman and Managing Director, Indian Bank.

Employees are sensitised on 43 banking topics to add value to service.

Staff at the counter are expected to become conversant in at least three banking products in order to be able to explain their application better.

The bank is currently implementing an e-learning programme. Provision of more area and basic amenities for customers in each branch is the drive-line currently, Mr Rajan said in an exclusive interview to Business Line, on his way back to Madurai from Kanadukathan in Sivagangai district, near here, where he attended a function organized by the bank.

With the increasing application of technology, surplus staff are engaged in marketing.

With only 40 per cent of the country’s population having access to banking services and much less in insurance and non-life insurance, there is scope for more market penetration, notwithstanding even the entry of foreign banks in 2009. A programme is on the anvil to reward performing staff with incentives and promotion, he said.

On the bank’s performance, the Chairman said that its system-driven approach brought in a business volume of over Rs 90,000 crore as on December 2007. For 2008-09, a 20 per cent growth in deposits and 25 per cent growth in credit is visualised.

By March 2008, all the existing 1,511 branches would be brought under Core Banking Solution. The fee-based income currently stood at 18 per cent, with year-on-year increase of around 35 per cent, and the intent is to raise the same to 40 per cent, he added.

“The bank has been maintaining the lending rate at 12.5 per cent, the lowest in the market, and there is no scope for a rate reduction,” he said.

The bank has plans to open 40 more branches in 2008 and 100 more in 2009, with a focus on north India, especially Madhya Pradesh and the Indo-Gangetic belt. So far, the concentration has been on South India, particularly Tamil Nadu.

Indian Bank plans to add 50 ATMs by March 2009. It has been charging a fee of Rs 10 for operation through its ATMs, though Reserve Bank of India has permitted a collection of Rs 20, he pointed out.

More Stories on : Customer Relationship Management | Public Sector Banks

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Pension scheme for govt staff to be ready by May

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line