SBI planning to open 500 new branches across India in FY25: MoS Finance

The State Bank of India (SBI) is planning to open 500 new branches across India during the current financial year, Parliament was informed on Monday.

Of this, 135 new branches have already been opened till October 31, 2024, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

Currently, the endeavour of the government is to ensure availability of a banking outlet (bank branch/business correspondent/ India Post Payments Bank) within 5 kilometres of all inhabited villages in the country, he said.

Availability of banking outlets is monitored by a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based app, namely, Jan Dhan Darshak (JDD) app, he said.

To another question regarding shortage of staff in SBI, Chaudhary said, public sector banks (PSBs) including SBI are board governed commercial entities.

The requirement of manpower in each PSB is determined by the respective PSB keeping in view various factors which include, inter-alia, business requirement, spread of activities, superannuation and other unplanned exits, he said.

Appointment of officers and staff is done accordingly by the bank and it varies from year to year based on their requirements, he said.

As per SBI, he said, "The current staff is adequate for carrying out the operations smoothly and recruitment drive(s) are conducted from time to time to supplement the staff position in the bank well in advance".

With regard to a question on NPS-Vatsalya Scheme, Chaudhary said the scheme was launched on September 18, 2024 with the objective to create a pensioned society. As on November 17, a total of 66,495 subscribers have been enrolled under NPS-Vatsalya, he said.