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Accounting for about 27 per cent of the country’s bank deposits and 30 per cent of its bank credit, Maharashtra is the hub of banking operations and a key driver of India’s economic growth.
Collectively, banks in the State had deposits and loans aggregating Rs 14.43 lakh crore and Rs 12.06 lakh crore, respectively, as at March-end 2011. With 2,504 banking centres, Maharashtra had 7 per cent of the total banking centres (35,353) in the country, according to RBI data.
Further, the State had 9.57 per cent (or 8,816 branches / offices) of the country’s total 92,117 bank branches/offices.
Thriving hub
Eight public sector banks, including State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India, and a similar number of private sector banks, including ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and Axis Bank, have their headquarters or corporate offices in the State, mainly in the metropolis.
Forty of the 51 scheduled urban co-operative banks in the country, including Saraswat Co-operative Bank and Shamrao Vitthal Co-operative Bank, are headquartered in Maharashtra.
Why is Maharashtra so important for bankers? The State capital, Mumbai, has historically been a thriving financial hub and is expected to remain so in the foreseeable future.
Besides India’s Maximum City, other flourishing economic growth centres in the State are Pune, Nagpur, Nashik, Aurangabad and Kolhapur. Vibrant industrial activity in these regions has led to banks expanding their operations.
Farm front
On the agriculture front, Maharashtra is a vital centre for the cultivation of sugarcane, cotton, onions, oranges and grapes. The scope for extending agriculture credit is, thus, immense for banks.
According to a Reserve Bank of India study, the spatial pattern of projects proposed during 2011-12 revealed that Maharashtra was the most preferred State, capturing 18.3 per cent of total investment intentions, followed by Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.
The State-wise Distribution of Institutionally Assisted Projects shows that in 2011-12 the Western State attracted 91 industrial projects (71 in 2010-11) worth Rs 38,900 crore (Rs 27,900 crore). Maharashtra ranks fifth in per capita Net State Domestic Product (per capita NSDP). The State’s per capita NSDP was Rs 83,471 at March-end 2011.
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