Mumbai, Dec 23: The Kapol Co-operative Bank Ltd is all set to open three new branches at at Fort, Matunga (CR) and Andheri (E) on December 29, 2000Kapol Bank chairman, KD Vora said, "This is a unique event in the banking industry that three new branches are being opened on a single day. The total number of branches would now be increased to 14. We are also planning to open five more branches in Gujarat."
The Bank is all set to introduce the concept of "Counterless banking" in eleven of its computerised branches.
"This concept is for customers who are hard pressed for time. Every customer will be catered to by an officer to make balance enquiries, cash withdrawals etc," Mr Vora said.
In the span of nine years the bank's deposits rose over nine times from Rs 30 crore to Rs 290 crore on March 31, 2000 which stood at Rs 335 crore advances.
Mr Vora said: "There is an absolute vertical growth in the deposits of profit ratio. Last year it was Rs 6.24 crore and we are going to maintain the ratio in this year also."
The bank has a client base of 2 lakh and the total retail lending portfolio stands at Rs 120 crore.
The bank intends to venture into insurance where 16 per cent margin has been prescribed by the government.
The bank has plans to tie-up with Reliance and ICICI for their insurance venture.
The bank introduced demat services in May, 1999 which received tremendous response from small investors. The branch network has doubled from seven to fourteen in nine years.
The bank's future plans include opening of new branches in Ahmedabad and Surat in early 2001.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
