Central Bank is planning to increase its presence in the Visakhapatnam-Kakinada corridor as many new industries are coming up in the region between the two port towns with a great potential, according to Mr M.V Tanksale, Chairman and Managing Director.
On his first visit to Visakhapatnam on Tuesday after assuming charge as the Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Tanksale said there were eight branches in the city and three more would be opened. “At present, Vizag is under the Vijayawada region. The Regional Manager, Vijayawada, will camp here for three days in a fortnight. At a later stage, we plan to set up a regional office here,” he said.
He said the bank was in the third position in the country in terms of branch network (3,800 networked branches) and the sixth in terms of business volume (Rs 3,13,000 crore). He admitted that the bank had started rather late in technology introduction but “now we have the technology in place and we are also planning to recruit on a large scale, as our workforce is ageing. We are gearing up to grow by 20 per cent per annum.”
PAN-INDIA PRESENCE
He said the bank was present in 90 per cent of the districts in the country and the remaining districts would be covered soon. In 48 districts, he said, Central Bank was the lead bank. The bank had also set up seven regional rural banks with 2,000 branches. “With our huge network of branches, we intend to tap the retail segment aggressively. We have many customised products for our customers. We are giving educational loans even for vocational courses. We have tied up with the National Skill Development Council. We will finance the units of new entrepreneurs,” he said.
CREDIT CARDS
Mr Tanksale said the bank was one of the first to introduce credit cards in the country but subsequently it had gone slow due to a large number of NPAs. “But now we have the requisite technology for credit card business. We have issued 45,000 cards and we plan to take the number to one lakh,” he said.
He said there were 1,200 ATMs and 800 more would be added during the current financial year. Efforts would be made to double the number later.
Earlier, at the meeting of the All-India Central Bank Employees' Federation, he urged the staff to work hard to take the bank to the number one position from the present sixth position in terms of business volume. He promised performance-based incentives to employees and said their grievances would be addressed expeditiously.
RETAIL BANKING
“We should focus on retail banking. Ours should be the best retail bank in the country, with the number of branches we have,” he told employees and added that the gap between the five banks ahead of Central Bank and the bank should be reduced as quickly as possible.
Earlier, speaking at the Vijnan Institute of Information Technology, he told students that banking sector held great promise for the youth in the coming years. “You should seek employment in public sector banks. That is where the challenge lies. Don't eye the MNCs alone,” he told students.
He said Central Bank was giving utmost importance to financial inclusion and to make available banking services to all sections of the public through different ways by making use of technology. Financial inclusion was one of the pre-requisites for achieving inclusive growth, he added.
Mr Vijay Mishra, Zonal Manager, Mr Subba Rao, Regional Manager, and Mr Joseph, Chief Manager, accompanied the CMD
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