Bharatiya Mahila Bank targets Rs 1,800 cr biz this fiscal

Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB), incorporated under the Companies Act last fiscal to extend banking services especially to women, is targeting at a business of Rs 1,800 crore this fiscal.

"This financial year will be the first full year of operations. This fiscal we are targetting at a deposit base of Rs 1,000 crore and advances of Rs 800 crore", bank's CMD Usha Ananthasubramanian said.

She said in the four-and-half months of operation in the last fiscal, the bank's business was Rs 175 crore.

Fully-owned by the government with a seed capital of Rs 1,000 crore, the bank had set up 23 branches across the country, she told reporters here last evening.

This fiscal, BMB would add 57 more branches across the country, she said.

To a query, she said that there was no immediate need to raise capital to support business needs.

"Listing will take time. The bank is not like other public sector banks which are under the Bank Nationalisation Act", she said.

The bank plans to provide loans to women at concessional rates.