Bank of Maharashtra is targeting 25 per cent growth in business to Rs 55,000 crore during 2006-07. | |
| Chairman M D Mallya told shareholders at the bank's third annual general meeting on Monday that the major thrust areas will be garnering low-cost deposits such as those in savings and current accounts, client-based expansion by cross selling banking products, qualitative growth in credit, robust recovery of advances and substantial increase in fee-based income. |
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| Mallya said the bank has put in place strategies and plans for each of these areas and has assigned specific targets to field offices. |
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| "We have identified 300 top branches for close monitoring of our business growth. Weekly reviews, too, will take place at the corporate level," Mallya elaborated. |
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| The bank has reintroduced motivational schemes with suitable changes to encourage its staff to play a more involved role in business development, Mallya said. |
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| Mallya said the reason behind the decline in profits from Rs 177.12 crore in 2004-05 to Rs 50.79 crore in 2005-06 was largely due to depreciation in the value of investments portfolio and the loss on sale of investments. |
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| "In order to stem this slide, the bank has taken steps to shift the proportion of advances and investments in favour of better quality credit, thereby improving the profitability of its advances," he elaborated. |
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| Thrust will be given on increasing the retail advances by entering into tie-ups with automobile manufacturers as well as educational institutions, he added. |
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| Mallya said the bank has steped up effort to expand its low-cost deposit base in order to reduce the overall cost of deposits. |
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| "Branches in residential areas will focus on personal banking and corporate clients will be encouraged to extend consumer finance under group schemes for their employees," he said. |
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| The bank has slashed Rs 6,500 crore of its high-cost deposits in 2005-06 taking the ratio between total deposits and low-cost deposits up from 33.19 per cent in 04-05 to 43.34 per cent in 05-06, he informed. |
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| Mallya said the bank's plans to deploy core banking solution are on course and the pilot branches will implement the solution by this October. By the end of March 2007, the bank will have commissioned CBS in 100 of its key branches, covering about 40 per cent of its business, he added. |
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