Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, August 21: Country’s largest lender, State Bank of India (SBI) should focus on increasing its advances portfolio in the state through disbursing more agri-gold loans, personal gold loans and tractor loans among others, a top official of the bank said here on 37th Foundation Day of its officers’ association.
“The bank is ranked number one in GCC transactions. It has also excelled in many other areas. However, there is a large room for improvement. The bank should enhance its focus on lending along with reduction of NPAs,” Chief General Manager (Bhubaneswar circle) of SBI, BVG Reddy said adding that the public sector lender should also cross sell more banking products to its customers.
Talking on deposit portfolio, Reddy said the bank needs to focus more on CASA (current account, savings account) ratio to increase its low cost deposit base. “There is a need of promoting products like agri-gold loans, personal gold loans among customers, which are available at an interest rate of 12-13 per cent against higher rates charged by other loan providers in the system,” Reddy said.
On financial inclusion, Reddy said, “Financial inclusion does not mean only to open savings accounts. Rather, credit through overdraft facility should be available to no-frill account holders.” He also directed the officers of the bank to focus on cross selling, which stands at 1.7 products per person for SBI against 2-3 products for private banks. “We must increase our interactions with farmers to increase disbursement of tractor loans,” he added.
