SBT to expand footprint outside Kerala

Opens regional office in Hyderabad

State Bank of Travancore (SBT), an associate bank of SBI, plans to expand its business footprint in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Odisha and West Bengal.

The bank said it would aggressively consider lending opportunities in the agricultural sector besides expanding into SME, consumer and NRI remittances here.

As part of this, it has included the business of AP, Odisha and West Bengal under its Hyderabad region. Till date, the region contributed around Rs 2,000 crore (around 1.25 per cent) to its total business of Rs 159,000 crore.  

By expanding in this region, “we will also meet the 18 per cent net banking credit extension to the agriculture sector laid down by the RBI,” said Sajeev Krishnan, managing director, SBT.

The bank on Friday opened its regional office and retail assets central processing cell here. The facility will have 14 employees, to be headed by the respective AGMs.  It will come under the Chennai zonal office. 

Apart from this, SBT plans to hike its presence here from the current 16 branches to around 30 by the end of this fiscal, said Krishnan. Of the 1,022 branches, around 350 (30 per cent) are outside Kerala.

Rs  1,000 cr capital infusion
SBT said it would receive Rs 1,000 crore capital infusion from the bank’s largest shareholder, SBI, this fiscal. “The related assessments have been passed to SBI, which in turn has passed it to the Government of India,” said Krishnan, and added, the funding would be in the form of rights issue.  

Merger of associate banks
Citing higher capital requirements for banks prescribed under  Basel III norms, he said, “it seems the head bank (SBI) may rework the merger proposal of associate banks and submit it at a later stage, possibly not in the current fiscal.