Central Bank of India is holding a two-day bottom-level consultative meet across 4,665 of its branches in the country in response to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s recent call for introspection and action among PSU banks.
Executive director P. Ramana Murthy said the takeaways from this exercise would be discussed and debated at a State-level interaction scheduled between August 22 and August 23, and the final outcome would be presented to the Finance Minister and the Prime Minister.
“There is a visible slowdown in the economy. Segments such as automotive and real estate are already not doing well. The government feels that people at branch level can do better in terms of lending to priority sectors such as agriculture, MSME, education, retail and infrastructure. Banks play a crucial role in creating buoyancy in the market and thereby boosting economic growth,” he said.
The key performance indicators identified by the bank include: push for digitisation, its exposures to MSME, Mudra loan scheme, education, agriculture and other priority sectors, NPA management, alignment with local priorities, corporate governance and financial inclusion of women entrepreneurs.
“We have achieved all targets and sub-targets for the priority sector and we are also at a vantage position with 65% of our branches being in the rural markets.”
16 key parameters
Five-year data, gathered from each branch of the bank, will be analysed and studied based on 16 key performance parameters identified by the bank.
“We are doing a peer to peer, intra- and inter-bank performance comparison study to gauge what makes a branch tick or why it does not grow, as also to identify additional revenue streams for branches. The exercise is aimed at creating a road map for the future of the bank, in line with national priorities of accelerated economic growth,” he added. After posting losses for 14 straight quarters, the lender has reported a net profit of ₹118 crore in Q1 of FY20, versus a net loss of ₹1,522 crore a year earlier.
