The State Bank of India (SBI), on its expansion plan, intends to open 400 new branches across the nation by the end of the current financial year. In the last fiscal year, it launched 137 branches. SBI also has a significant focus on rural areas, having opened 59 branches in these non-urban areas.
Dinesh Kumar Khara, Chairman, SBI, is focusing on the need for physical branches, citing that services like advisory and wealth management can only be provided through physical branches.
The branches already set up in rural areas have a crucial role that operates for a minimum of 4 hours daily, 5 days a week, as mandated by the RBI. Services like deposits, withdrawals and lending operations will be their primary focus for the residents of these non-urban areas.
Khara, in conversation with media outlets, said that, even if 89 per cent of digital and 98 per cent of transactions were happening outside the branch, there is still a need to set up new branches as there are newer areas that are emerging.
