Moving Ahead

To give a boost to Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector,Bank of India,Chandigarh Zone,organised a SME customer meet on November 27 at Hotel Sunbeam. About 50 representatives of SME units from Haryana,Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh participated. N. Seshadri,executive director of the bank,was the chief guest while R.C.Khurana,GM,National Banking Unit (North) was the guest of honour. The meet was presided over by Rakesh Sethi,zonal manager,Chandigarh Zone.

“North India has a strong base of industrial activity and has a lot of potential for SME finance. That’s the reason all branches of the bank are actively focusing on the segment to fulfill the credit requirements,” said Seshadri as he handed over sanction letters for various credit facilities to about 50 SME borrowers,amounting to Rs 30 crore. “There is a suite of products for SME customers like channel financing,term loan for energy efficiency projects,discounting of future cash flows,term loan for new projects,capacity expansion and technology upgradation,” he added that the bank has launched special schemes classifying SME accounts into Diamond,Platinum and Gold MSME accounts depending upon the length of customers’ relationship with the bank,their credit rating and track record. “These valuable clients will be offered certain facilities including concession in interest.”

“Bank’s global business has grown by over 21 per cent and is presently Rs 4,25,448 crore. Domestic business mix reached Rs 3,49,525 crore with deposits at Rs 2,04,828 crore and advances at Rs 1,44,696 crore,registering growth of 20.57 per cent and 22.36 per cent respectively,over corresponding period last year,” he informed.

In Chandigarh Zone,he said,19 villages have been allotted to branches in Haryana to provide banking services in unbanked centres under Financial Inclusion plan of the bank. Seshadri said 60 per cent of household in these villages have been covered and 8817 savings accounts have been opened including 4502 no frill accounts and 1909 KCCs issued involving an amount of Rs 19.94 crore in all allocated unbanked villages.

In Chandigarh Zone,the bank has ambitious plans to enlarge the branch network during financial year 2010-2011.