Indian Bank plans to open its branch in Dharavi area of Mumbai

Mumbai, Oct 30 (UNI) In its bid to become commonman's bank, the Chennai-based Indian Bank has taken a number of initiatives as it enters centenary year of its foundation next year.

As part of these initiatives, the bank plans to open a branch at Dharavi, which is dominated by slum-dwellers, in Mumbai with CBS (Core Banking Solutions) and ATM facility shortly with an objective to cater to the needs of slum dwellers under financial inclusion project, revealed the bank CMD Dr K C Chakrabarty, while talking to the media on the sidelines of declaration of the results of the first half of the current fiscal here today.

Talking about mission statement of the bank, he said that we want to become a commonman's bank with a view to provide all fianncial products and services to all our customers under one roof, at an affordable cost and in a fair and transparent manner.

Currently, the bank is selling the 'Jeewan Shree Bima Yojana' product as recently introduced by the LIC covering the self-help groups formed by women folk in different parts of the country. So far, the bank has been able to sell 59,000 policies of the product within a short time-span of three months, he said.

Some of the thrust areas of the bank, which is likely to launch its IPO next month include agriculture, SMEs (Small and Medium sector Enterprises), education and capital market. However, he rued over the fact that the contribution of household savings going to the capital market in the country right now was even less than two per cent. As regards the Basel-II implementation, the bank has already spent a sum of Rs 250 crore, which comprises 15 per cent of the net income of the bank during the first half of the current fiscal, on the subject, he added.

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