Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Jul 18, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Jul 18, 2003 |
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Money & Banking
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Public Sector Banks SBI keen to expand overseas presence Our Bureau
Mumbai , July 17 STATE Bank of India (SBI) is looking for opportunities to expand its overseas presence, particularly in West Asia and Africa Mr A.K. Purwar, Chairman, SBI, told presspersons, at the sidelines of the launch of the bank's offshore banking unit in SEEPZ, Mumbai, on Thursday, "Our plan is to increase the number of foreign branches to over 65 spread over 36 countries by March 2005, from the present tally of 50 offices in 28 countries.'' Responding to a specific query, Mr Purwar said that international acquisitions in this regard could not be ruled out. ``Our immediate focus would be on Africa and West Asia," he said. The bank is also in the process of finalising the special deposit scheme, designed to attract the Resurgent India Bonds redemptions. "We expect to retain at least 30-35 per cent of the Resurgent India Bonds redemption proceeds. The bank will finalise the special deposit schemes in a couple of weeks. The products will have in-built risk management and safety systems and be denominated both in rupees and dollars. Our decision to try and retain some of the redemption proceeds are due to purely commercial considerations,'' said Mr Purwar. NRI deposits account for 15-17 per cent of SBI's total deposits. Meanwhile, the bank also plans to hike its technology spends budgeted at Rs 500 crore for this fiscal. "Things are moving and changing so fast, we have to keep up with the times. We will have to take stock of our technology budget and revise it whenever necessary,'' he said. The bank plans to upscale its technology spending by another Rs 500 crore in the next three years. SBI will also enhance its ATM network from the current level of 1,630 to 3,000 by March 2004. Mr Purwar said that many medium and small Indian banks had approached SBI to share its ATM network on payment of fees. ``We are still having preliminary discussions with several banks and will take a decision at the appropriate time,'' he added. Admitting that credit growth in the first quarter of this fiscal had not been good as compared to last year, Mr Purwar said, "Although demand has not picked up, the corporates are showing good results and this is a positive indicator.''
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