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

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 J.M. Garg

A.J. Vinayak

Mangalore, Nov. 23 Making Corporation Bank a pan-India bank by increasing its presence in the States where there is poor representation and taking the financial inclusion programme to the urban poor are on the agenda of Mr J.M. Garg, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank.

Mr Garg told Business Line the bank is planning to expand its network where its representation is low. “We have poor representation in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. We will give more focus on these areas,” he said.

Asked about the likely number of branches in these States, he said the bank is identifying the branches. However, the bank has around 65 licences. They will be used this year, he said.

The target is to take the number of branches from about 1,000 today to 1,400, within a gap of two to three years, he said.

The total number of branches of the bank stood at 1,026 at the end of September. As far as recruitment is concerned this year, about 150 probationary officers have been recruited. They will be asked to join by December. For the next financial year, the bank is still planning. The manpower plan is being prepared, he said.

Mr Garg said he wants to extend financial inclusion to the urban poor also.

Stating that the urban poor are quite sizeable in the country, he said the bank would bring them under the banking net.

The branchless banking model of financial inclusion, where bank uses technology and the services of business correspondents to provide banking facilities in un-banked areas, will be expanded further. The bank, which has around 200 branchless banking units, will increase the number to around 400 units. “We will do this now throughout the country, wherever we have presence in the rural areas,” he added.

More Stories on : Public Sector Banks | Karnataka

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

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