The Hindu Business Line : State Bank of Mysore to beef up presence in TN

Coimbatore, April 27 Having hitherto concentrated on traditional industrial growth segments, State Bank of Mysore is now eyeing other potential growth areas for better reach.

Its Managing Director, Mr P.P. Pattanayak, admitted that the bank neither had a strong presence here nor was its growth rate high. “We were all along concentrating on industrial hubs such as Erode, Tirupur, Avinashi and Salem. We now see this region (Coimbatore) growing rapidly, especially in the services space and have also perceived a strong need for banking services. We have therefore decided to offer and improve our services in this belt,” he said.

To facilitate the reach, SBM has set up a new Regional Office here. The branches in Coimbatore and Chennai were hitherto under the control of the Central zone of the bank. “The twenty-two branches in this region will from now on be controlled by the Coimbatore Regional Office and the newly carved-out Chennai Zonal Office. The zonal office is to be inaugurated on Monday,” Mr Pattanayak added.

Strengthening network

The bank is also planning to strengthen its network in the region by opening a branch each in Pollachi, Tirunelveli, Tiruchengodu and Karur. “We have applied to the RBI for branch licence. We expect to operationalise these branches within the next three months or so,” he said and added that the focus areas of business for development would include agriculture, SMEs, trade finance, home loans and other personal loans.

SBM is contemplating having a co-financing agreement with Nabard for development of agri-business in the region. “We have almost finalised a contract farming finance with a poultry farm,” he said, but preferred to keep the details under wraps.

To help the exporting community in Tirupur and Avinashi belt hedge their rate-risk, the bank is planning to provide hedging facility. Mr Pattanayak said that the bank was in talks with some foreign banks. “Once the terms are finalised, we propose to roll out ‘simple and pure hedging products’, as per the guidelines laid by the banking regulator.’

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