44 new branches in NE soon: Bhatt

State Bank of India’s (SBI’s) total business in the North-East has grown from Rs 10,573 crore as in March 2003 to Rs 32,933 crore in November 2008.

According to SBI Chairman O P Bhatt, deposits too have grown by 153 per cent over this period. Even the bank’s priority sector advances have shot up by 553 per cent in March 2008 over March 2003 levels.

The credit-deposit (CD) ratio too has gone up to 45 per cent as compared to 38.90 per cent posted by all scheduled commercial banks in the region, he said. SBI has the largest network of branches in the region and is also the biggest lender in the North-East with an ever-growing CD ratio.

In the North-East, the country’s largest lender had opened 25 branches in the last financial year and 18 more this financial year so far, said Bhatt, adding that 44 more branches would be opened by the end of March.

He further said that the number of SBI ATMs would go up from the present 288 to 514 by the end of the current financial year.

Bhatt was speaking at the opening of the bank’s 11,111th branch at Sonapur near Guwahati today. The branch was inaugurated by Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.

The newly-opened branch will cater to the needs of a largely rural populace. It will be on the core banking platform from day one, and will offer all banking-related services.