SBI chairman O P Bhatt has said that the bank has set itself a target of 33 per cent growth in agri-advances to Rs 13,400 crore in 2008-09. It also plans to issue 1 crore SBI Tiny Cards by end-March 2010, of which 40 lakh will be issued in the current financial year. One lakh unbanked villages will be covered by 2010, of which 40,000 will be taken up this fiscal. SBI also has plans for additional credit linkage of 2 lakh Self Help Groups (SHGs) in 2008-09. The bank has already credit linked more than 10 lakh SHGs till March 2008. Bhatt informed that the number of branches in rural and semi-urban centres will be raised from nearly 7,000 branches at present to 10,000, of which 1,000 will be opened this fiscal.
