State Bank of Travancore has embarked on a business process reengineering drive.

After inaugurating its regional office here, SBT's Managing Director, Mr P. Pradeep Kumar, told reporters that the office in Coimbatore would take care of the bank's branches numbering 21 in the western and central regions.

Districts such as Nilgiris, Coimbatore, Tirupur, Erode, Salem, Namakkal, Trichi, Thanjavur, Theni and Madurai are expected to come under Coimbatore RO jurisdiction

“Another 15 branches would be added under this RO within the next 12–13 months,” he added.

This is the bank's third regional office. SBT opened its RO in Bangalore last week and already operates one in Nagercoil

On financial inclusion, he said “we have adopted 14 villages in Tamil Nadu and are in the process of identifying a business facilitator/ business correspondent.”

SBT inked a memorandum of understanding with the Kudumbasree mission in Kerala in December last. “The members of the SHGs under the mission act as our business correspondents by providing banking services to the allocated 22 un-banked villages in Kerala,” he said.

To a query on manpower planning and team size, he said “we are now 12,000 people strong. Recently we recruited 200 probationary officers, some specialists and clerical staff. The recruitment process is slow. We are awaiting the Khandelwal Committee recommendation for any indication on manpower planning.'

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