SBI aims to add 600 branches this fiscal, says Chairman

To capitalize on business opportunities in emerging areas, including major residential townships, the State Bank of India (SBI) reportedly intends to open 600 branches nationwide this financial year.

The country’s largest public-sector lender launched 137 branches in the last fiscal year, including 59 new rural locations. As of March 2024, SBI has a network of 22,542 branches nationwide. In addition to its branches, SBI operates 65,000 ATMs and collaborates with 85,000 business correspondents.

SBI Chairman C S Setty, in an interview with news agency PTI, said, “We have strong branch expansion plans…this would be mainly focused on emerging areas. A lot of residential colonies are not covered by us. Around 600 branches is something we are planning in the current year.” He asserted that they serve about 50 crore customers and take pride in saying that “we are the banker to every Indian, and, more importantly, to every Indian family.”

Setty further said that it would be his endeavour to transform SBI into the best bank, the most valued bank not only from a shareholder point of view but from the point of view of every stakeholder who deals with it.

The SBI is also exploring the launch of innovative products, such as a combo product of recurring deposit and SIP, in an endeavour to attract depositors. Setty said, with the economy progressing, the customers are becoming financially more aware and demanding, and have started looking for innovative investment instruments.

Additionally, he mentioned that the bank has launched a large-scale outreach program to mobilize deposits. “We have the largest number of physical outlets across the country. We are leveraging our huge physical reach by initiating outreach programmes where customers are contacted. Today, the effort on part of SBI is to reach out to every customer both existing as well as new customers,” the SBI Chairman was quoted as saying to the news agency.