Central Bank of India plans to open 150 new branches across the country during the current financial year. The bank also plans to recruit around 1,400 employees to achieve its growth targets, Managing Director and CEO Kalyan Kumar said.
At present, the bank has 4,585 branches across all 28 states and six out of seven Union Territories. Around 65% of the branches are located in rural and semi-urban areas.
Speaking to PTI, Kumar said that the bank has already received board approval to open around 150 new branches during the current financial year.
Talking about recruitment, Kumar said that employees are the most important part of the bank’s growth. To strengthen operations, the bank plans to recruit a large number of officers and staff members.
The Mumbai-based public sector bank currently has around 34,000 employees. Out of them, nearly 21,000 are officers, while the remaining staff belong to the clerical cadre.
Kumar said the bank plans to recruit around 1,000 Probationary Officers, 300 marketing officers, 50 forex officers, and 15 Assistant General Manager (AGM)-level officers in the areas of risk management, forex, and treasury during the current financial year.
He also said that the bank recently recruited 1,000 credit officers to improve the quality of credit underwriting. These officers are currently undergoing training.
Speaking about the bank’s subsidiaries, Kumar said Central Bank of India has two subsidiaries — Centbank Financial Services Ltd (CFSL) and Cent Bank Home Finance Limited (CBHFL).
CFSL is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the bank, while the bank holds a 64% stake in CBHFL.
Kumar said the bank is strengthening the management team at CBHFL. A General Manager and several senior officers have been sent there to improve governance and business performance.
He added that CFSL, which operates in the trusteeship business, is also an important part of the organisation. The bank is working to improve the performance of both subsidiaries and expects better growth in the coming period.
To expand its international banking business, Central Bank of India is also preparing to start an IFSC Banking Unit (IBU) at GIFT City in Gandhinagar by the first week of next month.
The bank has already received approval from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) to set up the IBU.
According to Kumar, groundwork for the branch has already started and a branch head has also been posted there.
He said the bank expects to generate a good amount of forex business through the new IBU branch. He added that the opening of the IBU will be an important milestone for the bank and will help expand its international banking operations.
The IBU will help the bank provide specialised banking services, including foreign currency loans, trade finance services, treasury and risk management products, and other banking solutions for corporate customers with foreign currency funding needs.
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