SBI opens 10,000th branch

Puduvayal (loosely translates as ‘New Farm’) is a small town (85 km from Madurai) in the Chettinad region of Sivaganga, a southern district in Tamil Nadu. The State Bank of India opened its 10,000th branch here, on Sunday morning. Mr P. Chidambaram, Finance Minister, said “The State Bank of India becomes only the second bank in the world to have more than 10,000 branches, after China’s ICBC.” Mr O P Bhatt, Chairman of SBI, said the new branch was sanctioning Rs 4 crore worth of loans - agricultural, educational and housing loans - from the new branch. He said that the SBI group had opened 1,000 branches this year. SBI plans to open at least 2,000 branches in rural India in the next two years.