Union Bank to open 100 new branches, offers rural credit card

Varanasi, July 11 (UNI) Aiming to achieve a business of Rs 1,60,000 crore by 2007, the Union Bank of India will open 100 new branches during the present fiscal.

The Bank has also come out with a first-of-its-kind credit card for villagers as a committment towards rural banking.

The bank will open 100 branches including nine in Uttar Pradesh by March next and also achieve targets covering 1,200 branches through core banking network, besides opening 500 more ATMs during the same period, Bank CMD M V Naiyar told newspersons here today.

''We aim at adding 100 more branches to our existing 2,084, besides increasing the ATM strength by 500 to 5,500. Besides, the bank has identified agriculture, retail, SMEs and corporate finance as thrust areas to achieve the business target of Rs 1,60,000 crore by March 2007,'' Mr Naiyar added.

Underscoring the performance of the bank, the CMD said the bank, with an aggregate business of Rs 1,28,718 crores in 2005-06, registered a 25 per cent growth over the previous year level of Rs 1,02,934 crore.

The deposits of the bank during the year also grew by over 19 per cent to Rs 74,094 crore, while its advances surged by over 32 per cent to 54,644 crore.

Throwing light on the bank's committment to the agricultural sector, Mr Naiyar said the bank had created 'rural knowledge centres' in 101 villages across the country, which involves providing online updates and consultancy to farmers and their familes in areas of farming technology, fertilisers and allied activities.

Besides, the bank was also rendering help for marketing of agro products and setting up godowns in villages, he added.

The CMD said as 800 of the 2,084 branches of bank were situated in rural areas, the Bank has embarked on aggressive agro finance, especially through self-help groups. As many as 66,904 self-help groups including 45,469 women groups have been created by the bank and a total credit of Rs 220 crore disbursed to them, he added.

For stimulating rural employment, the bank has opened a training institute in Harahua on the outskirts of Varanasi for giving specialised training in various professional skills and then financing the successful trainees.

Mr Naiyar said the bank has launched a credit card for rural folks with a credit limit upto Rs 25,000. The card -- 'General Credit Card' will go a long way in revolutionising rural banking in the country by reducing the distance between banks and villagers.

On the retail banking front, the bank has set up special retail banking units termed as 'Retail Marts' and targets establishing a total of 100 such marts by March 2007.

Mr Naiyar said the bank was also contemplating to open four Asset Recovery Branches during the present financial year.

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