Vijaya Bank is planning to open 12-15 high technology ‘gen-next' branches for young customers this year, said H. S. Upendra Kamath, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), in Mangalore on Saturday. He was addressing a press meet following the bank's sanctioning of loans to members of the fishing community.
The first high technology branch will be opened on November 1 but the city is yet to be finalised.
The branches will be set up in residential areas where tech-savvy youth live and not in areas such as technology parks as the facilities will not be used after office hours in case of the latter locale.
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“The younger generation hardly has any time to wait at the bank branches. At these branches, they can transact through machines in the lobby. They can withdraw cash and get a receipt, deposit funds, use the ATM and the net,” he said.
To recover non-performing assets (NPAs), the bank has introduced a cash incentive-based scheme to 11,500 employees. “We hope recovery will be robust,” he said. Currently, the bank holds recovery camps in each region, covering four to five branches.
The bank is aiming at improving deposits by focussing on current account and savings accounts (CASA). To improve the number of current accounts, the bank is working on identifying the needs of traders in various cities and towns.
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“Traders are the backbone of the current accounts of any bank,” he said.
About the progress made by the bank in financial inclusion, he said of the 408 villages (with a population of above 2,000) which it had to cover with banking access, 206 villages had been covered.
The remaining villages would be covered by January 2012, ahead of March 2012, the target time set, he said.
The bank sanctioned loans worth Rs.8.02 crore at 9 per cent rate of interest to 1,700 beneficiaries from the fishing community through 167 joint liability groups (JLGs). With the government subsidy and the interest subvention, the borrower gets the loan at 3 per cent, he said.
In the current year, the bank plans to open 100 branches, including 80 on October 23, the bank's Founders Day.
It will also set up 250 ATMs. “We will increase presence in catchment area, grow organically, by increasing the number of ATMs and branches,” said Mr. Kamath.
To grow the micro, medium and small enterprises (MSMEs) segment at an accelerated pace, the bank will add five more MSME centres to clear loans for the segment. At present, it has three MSME centres — Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.