Stepping up loans to the mid-corporate and micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) segments will be the new thrust areas for Syndicate Bank.
The public sector bank has created a separate vertical for the mid-corporate segment at its corporate office in Bangalore. It will focus on sanctioning credit proposals of Rs 5 to Rs 75 crore. According to its Chairman and Managing Director M.G. Sanghvi, 38 branches now exclusively focus on mid-corporate credit. The bank has also designated 57 branches to provide focussed thrust on MSME loans. MSME loans accounted for 13.77 per cent (or Rs 15,391 crore) of the total advances of Rs 1,11,797 crore as on September-end 2012.
Recoveries
Syndicate Bank has set up a new division to handhold small ticket borrowers, who are facing repayment troubles, through the recovery process. This division monitors the progress of the recovery process at regional offices, which in turn have dedicated recovery cells comprising five to six officials. The cells liaise with customers where small branch managers are unable to reach out, said Sanghvi. In the first half of the current financial year, the bank managed to make recoveries aggregating Rs 428 crore (Rs 387 crore in the year ago period).