Indian Bank's centenary meet: Common man in focus

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram during the centenary celebrations of Indian Bank in Chennai today urged the bank to break new grounds by becoming an uncommon bank for the common man.

The bank came out with a new mission statement, 'to be a common man's bank,' by offering all financial products and services under one roof at an affordable cost in a fair and transparent manner.

The bank has transformed into a common man's bank with 50 per cent of its advances going to priority sector benefitting 16.29 lakh borrowers amounting to Rs 10, 675 crore. The bank has so far opened 1.5 lakh no-frill accounts.

Chidambaram said, "When Indian Bank celebrated its 90 year of existence in 1997, one question asked was whether the bank would survive (as the bank was burdened with accumulated losses of over Rs 3,000 crore) and I am happy to see the bank's emergence as one of the strong public sector banks. I appreciate all the 21,400 bank employees for working towards profitability."

In his address, President APJ Abdul Kalam said the Indian Bank should focus on providing credit for agriculture and agro processing units.

The bank should expand its presence from 1,500 branches to 2,000 branches and open five more branches in overseas market in the next three years. He also appreciated that the bank was able to bring down its NPAs from 2.7 per cent in March 31, 2004, to 0.79 per cent in March 31, 2006.