SBI to Open 400 branches in 2024-25: SBI Chairman Dinesh Khara
Banking and Finance
4 min read
According to the State Bank of India, Chairman Dinesh Kumar Khara, the bank plans to open 400 branches in India in the 2024-25 financial year. India’s largest scheduled commercial bank opened 137 branches in 2023-24, of which 59 were rural branches.
The SBI chairman said that despite the increase in digital transactions by SBI customers, the physical bank branches are needed to provide customer services in newly emerging areas of wealth management and advisory services.
The government of India-owned SBI has over 22,500 branches, 63,580 ATMs/ADWMs, and 82,900 business outlets in the country as of March 2024.
What is a Banking Outlet or Branch?
According to the RBI, a ‘Banking Outlet’ /branch for a Domestic Scheduled Commercial Bank(only public sector banks and Indian private banks. It does not include foreign banks operating in India), a Small Finance Bank and a Payment Bank is a fixed point service delivery unit.
At the Banking Outlet, the bank has to provide the services of accepting deposits and encashment of cheques/ cash withdrawals or lending of money for a minimum of 4 hours per day. This minimum service has to be provided by the bank for at least five days a week.
Public-sector banks and Indian private banks do not need the RBI's permission to set up a branch in India.
Public-sector banks, Indian private banks, and Small Finance Banks will have to open at least 25 per cent of their new banking outlets in unbanked rural areas(population up to 9,999 as per the latest census).
SBIePay to Integrate with the eMigrate portal of the MEA
SBI has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of External Affairs to integrate its payment gateway, SBIePay, with the ministry's eMigrate portal.
After the successful integration of SBIePay with the eMigrate portal, Indian migrant workers, Recruiting Agents (RAs), and other users can make various emigration-related payments, including transactions through UPI, credit/debit cards, and NEFT through net banking of all Indian banks, all with no zero fees.
Since its launch in 2014, the eMigrate project has been assisting Indian workers who are going to Emigration Check Required (ECR) countries for employment by making the emigration process online and transparent.
About State Bank of India
The State Bank of India was set up under the State Bank of India Act 1955.
It is India’s largest commercial bank in India with the largest assets, branches, ATMs and profit among all the banks operating in India.
Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra
Chairman: Dinesh Kumar Khara
Tagline: Pure Banking Nothing Else
