State Bank of Hyderabad, an associate of State Bank of India, plans to focus more on MSME segment by extending additional loans of Rs. 9,000 crore during the current financial year.

Addressing presspersons here on Monday, after inaugurating the bank’s relocated new zonal office, M. Bhagavantha Rao, Managing Director, said the bank had so far extended loans worth Rs. 1,500 crore to this segment and was confident to reach the target of Rs. 9,000 crore by February. Also, the focus would be on reducing high cost deposits, which formed 25 per cent of the total deposits of Rs. 1.20 lakh crore, he said. The intention was to bring them down to 15 per cent and this would be done by garnering domestic retail deposits and NRI deposits, he said. The asset-liability committee of the bank had already approved a revision in the rate of NRI deposits to 9.5 per cent from the existing 8.75 per cent, and the plan was to mobilise Rs. 1,800 crore from NRIs against Rs. 1,000 crore last year, Mr. Bhagavantha Rao said.

The bank, which has 41 branches in Tamil Nadu, was planning to open 14 more in the State during the current financial year as part of its expansion drive. The aim was to concentrate beyond its traditional areas, Mr. Rao said. The bank had achieved a total business of Rs. 2.10 lakh crore with deposits accounting for 1.20 lakh crore and advances Rs. 90,000 crore.