Unknown to many, a largely rural bank steered by Punjab’s very own Sarvjit Singh Samra, has grown to become one of the strongest small finance banks in the country. The Capital Small Finance Bank On Wednesday achieved a new milestone by opening its 100th branch in Balachaur area of Hoshiarpur district in Punjab. Starting with a local area bank initially confined to just three districts of Punjab, and later expanding to another two, the bank was upgraded to a small finance bank in April 2016 with 47 branches at that time. Adding 53 branches, and spreading operations to Chandigarh, Panchkula and Delhi, in a challenging span of less than a year has been no mean feat. And the future plans are even more ambitious – 250 branches by the end of financial year 2020-21 and projected business of Rs.12,000 crore.
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Sharing the development, an elated Sarvjit Singh Samra, Managing Director of the Jalandhar headquartered bank, told lifeinchandigarh.com that the bank now has two branches in Delhi, one in Chandigarh, one in Panchkula, besides covering entire Punjab by pioneering the concept of modern banking facilities in rural and semi-urban areas at low cost.
Photos By : Life In Chandigarh
The geographical barriers for expansion having been removed, with the conversion of the bank to Small Finance Bank, the bank is now set to grow exponentially and spread rapidly to the rest of the country, concentrating initially on Haryana and Delhi National Capital Region (NCR), he informed.
Detailing the strengths of the bank which have contributed to its phenomenal growth, Samra said “from day one 7-day branch banking was introduced with extended banking hours. The focus on serving the common man with a personal and local touch has given the bank a competitive edge over other banks operating in the region. Within a short span, most of the branches have become market leaders of their respective centres. The Bank is providing a safe, efficient and service oriented repository of savings to the local community while reducing their dependence on moneylenders by making need based credit easily available,” he added.
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Sarvjit Singh Samra, Managing Director
Sharing some business stats, Samra said “The total business of the bank has crossed Rs. 4400 crore with more than 4.95 lakh accounts. The bank has 80% of its business in rural and semi urban areas, with priority sector lending of 84.96% of the adjusted net bank credit as on March 31, 2017. The bank is extending loans primarily to small borrowers and 53% of the total advances are up to the ticket size of Rs. 25 lakh as on March 31, 2017.
Before conversion to a small finance bank, Capital Local Area Bank was the largest bank in its category in the country. Out of the 16 years of its existence, the bank operated in three contiguous Punjab districts of Jalandhar, Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur in the initial initial 13 years. In January 2013, the Reserve Bank of India accorded its approval for expansion in the bank’s area of operation to two more districts of Ludhiana and Amritsar.
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Capital Small Finance Bank was granted scheduled status by the Reserve Bank of India vide its notification dated February 16, 2017.
