SBI relocates financial inclusion to Delhi for better synergy with govt

In a bid to promote financial inclusion and better coordination with the government, State Bank of India (SBI) on Friday relocated the financial inclusion and micro market (FI&MM) division from its Mumbai corporate office to the national capital.

The FI&MM division takes care of 8,000 rural and semi-urban branches catering to bottom of the pyramid segment and 64,000 customer service points (CSPs) managed by business correspondents and 58,000 ATMs.

Besides, the division is responsible for running all the government-sponsored schemes, including direct benefits trasfer like PM-KISAN, in coordination with various departments and ministries.

According to SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar, the focus of the Delhi-based division will be community service, financial inclusion and running government-sponsored schemes.

The new office of the vertical inaugurated by the SBI chairman will be headed by Deputy Managing Director Sanjeev Nautiyal.

Earlier, the vertical was part of retail overall network of the bank, he said adding that the rest of the bank will be able to perform better because of the sharper focus on respective business lines.

Asserting that the decentralisation is expected to bring cost-efficiencies, Kumar said, "Nearly 40 per cent of the network of the bank was contributing to only 16 per cent of the business."

He said the idea is that the size of the business should go up without increasing any extra resources.

Asked about rationale for relocating office, he said there was a need for a senior official of the rank of deputy managing director in Delhi for better coordination and liaison with various department and ministries other than the administrative department.

Regular interaction with ministries like agriculture, rural development, water resources and urban development for implementation of various government-sponsored schemes will take place, he said adding, "This will help us focus and improve our synergy with government agencies and functionaries."

Under this division, the bank will offer loans predominantly for agriculture and allied activities, and micro and small enterprises.

He further said that "for agriculture, we have kept a growth target of Rs 20,000 crore, which would be 10 per cent of our overall agriculture loan book this year".

With regard to network expansion, he said, "We have kept a target to reach around 75,000 CSPs (customer service points) by March-end from 64,000 at present. Our big focus will also be on urban and metro centers for the new CSPs.