Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram inaugurates Canara Bank’s new Mumbai Circle office premises in BKC

 

Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram inaugurates Canara Bank’s new Mumbai Circle office premises in BKC

• CMD Shri R. K. Dubey announces plans to increase the number of branches to over 5,000 and ATMs to over 10,000 in the next two years
• Bank to recruit over 7,500 people this fiscal

Mumbai, May 25, 2013: Hon. Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram inaugurated the new state-of-the-art new premises of Canara Bank’s Mumbai Circle Office at Bandra Kurla Complex in the presence of Smt. Priya Dutt (Member of Parliament), Shri Arvind Kumar (Jt. Secretary, Ministry of Finance), Shri. R. K. Dubey (Chairman & Managing Director, Canara Bank), Shri V. S. Krishnakumar (Executive Director, Canara Bank), Shri K. S. Balachandra Rao (GM, Canara Bank) and a host of other dignitaries. Canara Bank, one of the premier Nationalised Banks in the country with a business of over Rs. 6 lakh crore, has a business level of over Rs.1 lakh crore and 130 branches spread across Mumbai. 

 

This new Canara Bank building will house many offices of the Bank, viz., the Bank’s Treasury, a Retail Assets Hub, ARM Branch, a Subsidiary of the Bank, a general banking Branch, a SME Sulabh Branch, a Prime Corporate Branch and a mid-corporate Branch. Thus this impressive state-of-the art building in the financial hub of Mumbai would significantly increase Canara Bank’s Circle Office presence and visibility leading to enhanced business of the Bank in Maharashtra in general and Mumbai in particular.  The Circle Office of the Bank, which is now at Maker Towers, Cuffe Parade would shift to this office, along with other offices of the bank in due course. The Bank started its journey in Mumbai with a branch at Mumbai has completed its journey of 85 years in its 107-year history.

Hon. Union Finance Minister Shri P. Chidambaram said, “I have seen Canara Bank grow from strength to strength. Once a bank reaches certain level of biz, the growth is exponential and Canara Bank will soon cross the Rs. 9 lakh crore business mix mark. Having reached this size and scale, Canara Bank now has to invest in technology and human resources. I wish the Canara Bank all the best in all their future growth endeavours.”

 

Shri R. K. Dubey, Chairman & Managing Director, Canara Bank, said, “We at Canara Bank have been following our founder’s principle that a good bank is not only the financial heart of the community, but one with an obligation of helping in every manner possible to improve the economic conditions of the common people. The Bank has truly a pan India presence and global business has crossed Rs.6 lakh crore. The Bank has 3,735 branches, including 5 overseas branches and 3,614 ATMs and has an ambitious expansion plan to take the number of branches to over 5,000 and ATMs to over 10,000 in the next two years.”

 

“The Bank is well poised to lead from today to tomorrow through a synergy of a long-term perspective, a reliance on fundamentals and diversification. The Bank has identified the transition path and initiated synchronised steps for strengthening of core competencies while exploring new vistas to overcome persisting bottlenecks and charting out a path for the future by focusing on a set of core principles to build visibility, distinctiveness, consistency, authenticity and transparency. This would enable us to move ahead in our time-tested pursuit of ‘serving to grow-growing to serve,” Shri Dubey added.

“We are also fully committed to increase our role in all segments of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). We have launched ‘Udaan Project’ for skill development of about 350 persons in Jammu and Kashmir.  Further, we are in the process of recruiting about 7,500 people this year.  The Bank’s well-defined roadmap for enhancing financial inclusion includes extension of banking activity in all the allotted villages, provision of Aadhaar number to beneficiaries & the number to be seeded with the account, Micro Insurance Scheme for all the no-frill account holders, thrust on role of Business Correspondent Agents and Holistic Village Adoption Scheme. We are closely involved with implementation of Direct Benefits Transfer Scheme. This Scheme, which entails transfer of cash benefits like scholarships, pensions, NREGA wages, etc. directly to the Bank or Post Office Accounts of identified beneficiaries, is likely to be a game-changer with the potential of creating a silent revolution in the countryside,” Shri Dubey added.

All the operational efficiency ratios are showing steady improvement. The Bank’s Asset Quality is sound and robust. As at March 2013, the Gross NPA and Net NPA ratios have come down to 2.57% and 2.18% respectively from 2.77% and 2.35% as at December 2012, indicating trend reversal and better profitability outlook in FY14. For FY13, Cash Recovery was at record Rs. 4,006 crore. The Bank is adequately capitalized. The Govt. Share holding is 67.72% and the Capital Adequacy Ratio is 12.4% with Tier I Ratio being 9.77%. We have adequate headroom to raise further capital to grow our business. We have not borrowed any capital from the Government in the last 2 financial years and do not wish to do so for the current year and next year also. The Bank has excellent manpower and high productivity, which is reflected in Business Per Employee of Rs. 14.2 crore.

The Bank has significantly slashed the rate of interest on retail loans, particularly education, housing and auto and loans to MSEs. The Bank is focused on increasing the accessibility of education loans in a big way. Its credit portfolio is well diversified and we cater to all segments of our economy from very common man and farming communities to large, medium, small, micro enterprises and infrastructure segments. In FY 13, the Bank’s agriculture credit percentage was 18.2%, credit to weaker section was 11.7% and credit to minority communities’ was 18.2%. All these percentages are well above the stipulated national goals. “The Bank’s customers are our best assets. We are committed to provide our customers with best of products and services. For that we have been adequately investing in technology, process and people so that we can serve our existing customers better and attract large number of younger generation customers to our fold,” Shri Dubey added.