South Indian Bank has drawn up a five-year plan to drive its total business to Rs.75, 000 crores by March 2013. Currently, the bank's total business stands at around Rs. 25,000 crore. Under the five-year plan, the bank envisages its deposits to grow to Rs. 44,000 crore and advances to Rs. 31,000 crore by March 2013.

Addressing a press conference here on the eve of the bank opening its 100th branch in Tamil Nadu, Chairman V.A. Joseph said South Indian Bank would open 250 more branches during this period. Out of which, 150 would come up in North India and the rest in the South. The bank was also aiming to open 250 more ATMs (automated teller machines) during this period. Currently, the bank has 214 ATMs. By the end of this month, he said, the bank would have 500 branches with the opening of a branch in Delhi on March 29.

Fielding a range of questions, Mr. Joseph said the bank's farm credit stood at around Rs.10,000 crore. Out of which, only Rs.23.83 crore worth of credit would qualify under the farm loan waiver scheme announced by the Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in the budget for 2008-09. To a question, Mr. Joseph said the bank's NPA (non-performing assets) vis-à-vis the farm loan amounted to a meagre Rs. 14.19 crore. The bank had already made a provision to the tune of Rs. 9.83 crore, he added. Eighteen per cent of the lending to priority sector (47 per cent of total lending) was farm loans, he said.

The Chairman also said the net NPA of the bank had gone below 0.50 per cent in December 2007 itself. To a question, he said the bank had been seeing a year-on-year growth of around 30 per cent in credit off take. In the last three months, the growth in credit off take had been six per cent, he added. By merely meeting the needs of its existing clients, the bank could drive the credit off take by 10-12 per cent, he said. An additional 10-12 per cent credit growth need not pose any big challenge to the bank, he felt.

Asked if the bank needed to raise fresh funds to meet the increased demand arising out of the stepped up business target for the next five years, Mr. Joseph said the present plan was drawn up based on the current scenario. ``We will have a mid-term review of the plan two years hence and take a call then,'' he said. The capital adequacy ratio of the bank was at a comfortable 14.92 per cent, he said.

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