Mumbai: Public sector lender Bank of Baroda (BoB) has chalked out a roadmap for the current fiscal and identified the SME, retail and international portfolios as key growth drivers, a top official said.

The bank has targeted a 20-22% jump in credit and a 20% growth in deposits by the fiscal-end, BoB chairman and managing director M D Mallya.

“The growth momentum will be maintained. I do see a significant potential in our SME, retail and international businesses. The bank has a roadmap for various portfolios to improve their output,” Mallya said.

The current and savings accounts (CASA) would alone contribute about 40% to the total deposit base by end-fiscal, he said.

Besides, the bank is planning to scale up its international operations by opening ten more foreign branches this fiscal in locations like Canada, South Asia and East Africa, Mallya said.

The bank currently has 67 foreign branches and four repo offices,which contribute nearly 20% to the bank’s business and about 33% to the profits.

Similarly, the number of domestic branches is 2,853 which would go up to 2,953 with an addition of 100 branches this year, Mallya said.

“These hundred branches will be opened in the first half of this financial year, taking the total number of branches to above 2,900 by September 2009.”

The bank targets a significant 50% jump in SME lending in the current fiscal through the creation of eight more SME loan factories (centres dedicated to SME lending), from the current 27, Mallya said.

“With the creation of eight more SME loan factories, the total disbursal is expected to increase to Rs 10,000 crore in FY’O9 from about Rs 6,000 crore in 2007-08,” he said.

Source : DNA