Union Bank eyes Rs 30K cr business from AP

Union Bank of India, the fifth nationalised bank in the country, is targeting a milestone business of Rs 30,000 crore in Andhra Pradesh with a 300-branch network by 2015. At the end of March 2011, the total business of the bank in the state stood at Rs 14,562 crore comprising deposits of Rs 6,434 crore and advances of Rs 8,128 crore.

Announcing the launch of two new branches in Hyderabad — one at Jubilee Hills and the other in Gitam University at Rudraram on the city outskirts — today, MV Nair, chairman and managing director, said the bank would open 28 new branches, taking the total number in the state to 221 by March 2012.

The bank has created a ‘cashless campus’ model for Gitam University, Visakhapatnam. Under this, all cash and cheque transactions in the university and its colleges will be replaced by paperless mode. Students or their guardians may make payment directly through Union Bank’s payment gateway using credit or debit card.

Students can also use mobile banking service to make all payments inside the campus, including small-ticket canteen payments. As a part of the project, the bank will activate accounts of around 12,000 students in Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam campuses of the university.

“During the past five years, the bank’s business in the state has grown at a compound annual growth rate of 21.3 per cent, with a focused approach for making credit available to all the productive sectors like agriculture, micro and small enterprises and infrastructure,” he said.

Nair said the bank was aiming at youth and next-generation customers by providing tech-savvy services including alternative delivery channels like ATMs, mobile and Internet banking and a nine language-based call centre including in Telugu. “Alternative delivery channels are used by 50 per cent of our customers and we expect this to grow to 60 per cent this year,” Nair said.

The bank is actively pursuing the goal of financial inclusion in Andhra Pradesh and has been allotted 164 villages, with a population of over 2,000, for coverage with banking facilities by March 2012.

“Of these, 154 villages have already been covered through business correspondents. For the remaining, specialised financial inclusion branches have been opened in two villages and brick-and-mortar branches have been planned in 8 villages,” he added.