Bank of Baroda to expand in the north

Bank of Baroda, the third-largest public sector bank in India, plans to consolidate its position in the north by opening 22 new branches in the Chandigarh region in financial year 2011-12.

The Chandigarh region of the bank comprises the states of Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Chandigarh and parts of Haryana. The bank has a branch network of 120 in this region.

According to Regional Manager S K Goyal, the bank registered a business of Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 4,400 crore worth of advances and Rs 6,600 crore of deposits) in the financial year 2010-11 and has set a target of Rs 14,000 crore (Rs 6000 crore advances and Rs 8000 crore deposits) in the financial year 2011-12.

Goyal said the growth in the business was to be mobilised from the agriculture, retail and small and medium enterprises (SME) sector.

The bank expects to increase the exposure to Rs 125 crore in agriculture, Rs 200 crore in SME and Rs 300-400 crore in retail, he added.

He said the bank was also putting up cameras at ATMs to check fraudulent withdrawls.

“Out of the 54 ATMs in the region, 30 have already been covered,” Goyal said.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of the bank stood at Rs 55 crore in March 2010 and Rs 77 crore in March 2011. He said NPAs as the percentage of total volume of business dropped in 2011.

The bank has launched the retail loan factory at important centres to facilitate retail loans.