Thaindian News

Agartala, Dec 22 (IANS) Tripura Gramin Bank (TGB) posted a net profit of Rs.35.35 crore, the highest among the regional rural banks (RRBs) in eastern and northeastern India, in the last fiscal, the bank’s chairman said Wednesday.TGB, one of India’s 82 RRBs, has been making profit for the past 10 years consecutively.

The bank, celebrating 35th foundation day Wednesday, has also attained a record in per branch business among India’s 82 RRBs and per staff business with Rs.25.67 crore and Rs.4.38 crore respectively in the last financial year (2009-10).

TGB along with three other RRBs — Assam Gramin Bank, Manipur Gramin Bank and Bangiya Gramin Bank in West Bengal — are sponsored by Kolkata-based United Bank of India (UBI).

“The bank (TGB) with 111 branches across Tripura has targeted to reach a net profit of Rs.55 crore in the current fiscal (2010-11),” TGB chairman Dinesh Mushahary told reporters here.

He said TGB has been making profit for the past 10 years setting an outstanding feat among the RRBs, whose numbers have been reduced to 82 now from the earlier 196 with the amalgamation among the banks.

“By September next year, all the 111 branches would come under the core banking services (CBS) and nine more new branches would be opened in rural and remote areas within a year.”

“With the gradual opening of bank branches and new services, TGB is expected to do business of Rs.3,500 crore by March next year,” Mushahary said.

According to the bank official, the credit-deposit ratio of TGB was 41 percent up to September this year while that of the 173 branches of other commercial banks in Tripura has remained at a level of around 30 percent over the past many years.

“Keeping with the directives of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the TGB has engaged several farmers’ clubs, retired banks officials and societies as business facilitators (BF) and business correspondents (BC) to extend the banking services to unbanked rural and remote areas having population of above 2,000 or even below 2,000,” he said.

The RBI has earlier asked all commercial banks and RRBs across India to open banking services, in any form, to every village in the country with a population of around 2,000.

“The TGB would soon tie up with the Tripura cooperative banks and the postal department to extend its services in the far-flung, hilly and inaccessible areas of the northeastern state.”

TGB has issued over 2,000 biometric cards to disburse wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and pension under the National Old Age Pension (NOAP) schemes.

“The process is on to bring all the NREGS and NOAP beneficiaries under biometric cards system to make their payment at the door step,” he said.