UBI puts thrust on agriculture, SMEs: CMD

United Bank of India (UBI) today said it is focusing on lending to agriculture and SME sectors with special emphasis on the target group constituting small and marginal farmers, artisans, SC/ST borrowers, women and minority communities.

UBI identified MSME sector as one of the thrust areas, and as of December 2009, advances to MSME sector were Rs 6,212 crore and registered a growth of 93.8 per cent over March 2009 position, United Bank of India CMD Bhaskar Sen told reporters after inauguration of two new branches in Jaipur.

The total business of the bank on year-on-year basis increased by 20.2 per cent as on March 2009 and stood at Rs 90,263 crore, he said.

The total business of the bank is expected to be Rs 1.40 lakh crore in 2009-10, he said.

Referring to the IPO of 5 crore equity shares issued last month, he said, the bank collected Rs 325 crore from the IPO as it was over-subscribed by more than 33 times.

Earlier, Union Minister of State for Finance Namonarayan Meena inaugurated two UBI branches in the city amid presence of senior bank officials including CMD.

UBI would recruit 150 agricultural officers for its agriculture and SME sectors, Sen said.

The bank has set up five Rural Development and Self-employment Training Institutes in the North Eastern region for extending facilities to farmers, small entrepreneurs, Sen said.

On a question whether UBI planning to enter rural parts of Rajasthan, CMD said right now the bank got 11 branches in the state, and due to no availability of licence, the bank would plan penetration in villages in next financial year.

When asked whether there was any move to merge or consolidate UBI in other nationalised bank, Sen said, "We have our full strength and lead banking in North Eastern regions of the country and serving the nation in a better and exclusive way in extreme rural areas of West Bengal and Tripura".

As a part of its marketing initiatives, the Bank sells third party products such as life and non-life insurance policies, mutual funds, credit cards, cash management and depository services, Sen said.