Corp Bank may restructure UP discom loans

The Corporation Bank is considering a request by the Uttar Pradesh electricity distribution company to restructure its Rs 600-crore loans, the bank’s Executive Director, Mr Amar Lal Daulatani, told Business Line on Friday.

“They (the UP discom) have given a request for restructure. It is yet to come up (before the bank’s board),” he said.

In 2011-12, Corporation Bank restructured loan book grew sharply by Rs 3,000 crore, to Rs 7,539 crore. Again, like in the case of many other banks, the major restructured accounts were Air India and the Rajastan State Electricity Board.

Focus on SME, gold loans

The bank expects to give Rs 5,000 crore of additional loans to small and medium enterprises in the current financial year, Mr Daulatani said. This will happen because of the thrust the bank is giving to the SME sector. The bank intends to open 16 SME loan centres across the country.

These ‘loan centres’ focus only on SMEs and hence the processing of loans is quick. A special drive to increase the bank’s SME customer base is also on. Mr Daulatani said that on the day the SME loan centre was inaugurated in Mumbai, the bank gave loans worth Rs 300 crore.

The other thrust area for Corporation Bank is gold loans. The bank’s gold loan portfolio increased from Rs 696 crore on March 31, 2011, to Rs 2,116 crore on March 31, 2012, Mr Daulatani said.

mramesh@thehindu.co.in