United Bank of India?s logo, ironically, is a paddy stalk, but advances to the agricultural sector of the Kolkata-based bank is almost 4% less than the RBI-stipulated 18% threshold level.
Not surprisingly therefore, for new chairman & managing director Bhaskar Sen, agricultural lending is a priority with the bank looking at significantly increasing that portfolio.
?This is a serious concern for us. We have been stepping up our advances in direct and indirect lending to agriculture,? Sen told FE, his first meeting after taking over on March 1.
?We will step it up in a phased manner,? said Sen. In fact, the bank has increased its share of agricultural lending from 12% in FY07 to 13.86% in FY08 and 13.95% in FY09. According to a senior bank official, it is targeting individual farmers for expanding its agricultural loan portfolio.
Advances towards the priority sector, including agriculture and weaker sections, comprise a little more than 36% of the bank?s advances portfolio. In fact, during the first six months of FY10, the bank?s advances towards the priority sector have come down to 36.02% from 41.76% for the corresponding period last fiscal.
Meanwhile, UBI, which will be listed on BSE on Thursday, had filed two applications last December with the Trade Marks registry for its logo. The bank had crossed Rs 1-lakh crore businesses in December last year. ?We have to think of avenues to boost that further,? said Sen.
The bank is also looking at taking full advantage of its 100% CBS network. ?We are the first bank in the country to have all our branches on CBS network. On the other hand, the bank is also planning to induct youth into its network as the average age of employees is on the higher side. A lot of staff will retire in two-three years. We have to take advantage of the situation and bring in more young employees,? he added.