Dena Bank to open 45 branches in state this fiscal

Public sector lender, Dena Bank is planning to expand its branch network across the country by opening around 175 new branches nationwide. The bank will open 45 new branches in Gujarat to cater to the mix of urban and rural population.

Currently, the bank has the nationwide branch network of about 1,461 branches, of which around 900 are located in Gujarat and Maharashtra.

"In the last financial year, we have achieved a milestone of becoming a mid-sized bank last fiscal. This year we expect the total business of Rs 2,07,000 crore. Almost one third of our business will come from Gujarat," said Ashwani Kumar, chairman and managing director, Dena Bank during his first visit to the city after assuming the charge.

Dena Bank's total advances stood at Rs 66,000 crore, showing a growth of 16 per cent, while its deposits grew by 26 per cent to Rs 97,207 crore for the fiscal 2012-13.

The bank will continue to focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), agriculture and retail advances in Gujarat. Last year, advances grew by 27 per cent to Rs 47,000 crore. The credit-deposit (C/D) ratio has improved in the state to the current 48 per cent.

Commenting on the concerns for rising non-performing assets (NPA), Kumar noted that Dena Bank has lesser NPAs than its peer banks. However, textiles industry has remained a cause of concern for the bank for high rate of NPAs. "Our gross NPAs stand at around 2.19 per cent, which is much less than the other players in the industry. Gujarat, having people with good business acumen, has even lesser NPA levels at below 2 per cent," he said during the media interaction here on Monday.

However, in its credit portfolio, the bank has 55 per cent of the total advances to corporate, 33 per cent to priority lending and rest to the retail segment. Kumar further maintained that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) could cut key rates in coming months, as macro economic factors are turning favourable. "Inflation and current account deficit (CAD) were the main concern for RBI. But now inflation is cooling off and government is seen taking several measures to control CAD, we hope RBI would cut key rates this fiscal," he said.