Hon'ble Union Finance Minister opens 2154th branch
of Allahabad Bank at Pudukkottai, Tamil Nadu
 Hon'ble Union Minister of Finance, Shri P Chidambaram inaugurated
2154th branch of the Allahabad Bank, at the historic town of
Pudukkottai in Tamil Nadu and has also launched Internet Banking,
SMS Banking, Mobile Banking & E-payment facility of the Bank in the
presence of Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Forest & Environment
Shri S Reghupathy, and Bank's Chairman & Managing Director, Shri.
A.C. Mahajan on 22nd March 2008.
Allahabad Bank, the oldest Joint Stock Bank in the country,
started way back in 1865 at the confluence of holy rivers of Ganga,
Yamuna and Saraswati in Allahabad City in Uttar Pradesh. During
these 142 glorious years of service to the nation, the Bank went
through many historic events, creating landmarks of its own and
never changed its name and its abiding culture of servicing people
while keeping itself flexible to adapt changing need of time.
Today, Allahabad Bank is one among the leading Nationalised Banks
with all modern amenities, technological advancements and a
courteous customer service purely Indian. The Bank which had only
151 branches at the time of Nationalisation has grown in its
strength with 2154 branches at present including this Pudukottai
branch. Business grew from Rs.201 crores in 1969 to Rs. 113,835
crores as at December 2007. The Bank achieved a phenomenal business
growth of 19.53 % as on 31st December 2007. Total deposits as on
31st December 2007 was at Rs.68,044 crores with Year-on-Year growth
of 20.38 %, while Total Credit was at Rs.45,791 crores and the
growth was 18.28 %.
The Banks' development in terms of Branch Network is being given
special emphasis in the South. This is the 32nd Branch in the State
of Tamil Nadu. Licences for opening of 18 more branches at various
districts has already been received, and the same will be opened
during the ensuing Financial Year.
Towards capacity building of Farmers, unemployed youth, women and
those belonging to under privileged section, the Bank established
Allahabad Bank Farmers' & Entrepreneurship Training Institute at
Debra, Paschim Midnapore (West Bengal). The Bank has four such
Institutes in the country. This unique model supporting financial
inclusion has been conceived by the Bank as an integrated Model of
Training, Credit & Infrastructure under one roof.
Allahabad bank takes the pride to become the first to introduce
the concept of Agriculture Credit Card for farmers. The outstanding
agriculture credit stood at Rs.7905.84 crores, and the share of
Agricultural Credit to Net Bank Credit is maintained well above the
stipulated level of 18 %.
Credit to MSME sector went up to Rs.4354.36 crores as on December
end 2007 showing a growth of 19.66 %. In tune with the national
objectives, the Bank has put the following areas on special thrust
under priority sector for the year 2007-08 - Financial Inclusion,
Issuance of General Credit Card, Financing MSME sector, Food and
Agro Processing, Godown / Cold Storage, Plantation & Horticulture,
Lending to Micro Finance Institutions, etc. White Card (Milk Card)
has been launched in Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Meerut to help Dairy
farming.
On the technology front, the Bank has joined the elite club of
CBS Banks and is steadily progressing, bringing more and more
branches under CBS platform. Till date 207 major Branches have now
rolled over in CBS platform in the country. In Tamil Nadu 11 major
branches covering more than 50 % of the total business are under CBS
and more are to come soon. The remaining branches will be on Banks'
common software, source code of which has been procured from the
vendor, with entire support for software being provided in-house.
The Bank has computerized almost all its branches and extension
counters.
The Bank has 211 ATM's and Card members can now have access at
over 16500 ATM's all across the country under National Financial
Switch. There are 11 ATM's in the state of Tamil Nadu.
The Banks' business in Tamil Nadu has also been keeping pace with
the total bank business. The total business of the zone as on date
is Rs. 4536.83 crores with a deposit of Rs.2088.56 crores and Gross
credit of Rs.2448.27 crores. CD Ratio is at 117 % for the zone.
Business per employee of the zone is presently at Rs. 7.88 crores.
The Asset quality has also improved with a total reduction of Gross
NPA from Rs. 42.97 crores to Rs.37.59 crores during the year. In
percentage terms also, Gross NPA of the zone has decreased from 2.45
% during March 2007 to 1.88% as on December 2007.
The Bank has improved its performance and
established its visibility and strong presence in the market. The
Bank is steadily moving at a faster pace to consolidate its position
in the coming days introducing extensive computerization to ensure
state-of-the-art service comfort for its customers.
22.03.2008
Press Corner | 
