To face the challenge of high non-performing assets (NPAs), country’s largest lender State Bank of India (SBI) has started working on a multi-pronged strategy, including a certification programme for loan sanctioning officials.
“In our bid to face the challenge of high-level NPAs the industry is currently faced with, we are working on a multi-pronged strategy,” bank’s chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya told reporters on the sidelines of 60th Foundation Day of ECGC here on Monday.
“We have started a certification programme for the SBI officials. As per the plan which will come in force over next three years, the officials who successfully complete the first learning will be authorised to sanction loan up to Rs 50 crore and those who pass level two exam, will be given powers to sanction loan up to Rs 500 crore,” she said.
Every concerned bank official will have to pass three levels of exams before being allowed to sanction loans. The process includes self-learning, class-room learning and the examination, she said.
Besides, the bank was planning to scrap some of its already existing products and bring in new products, she said.
To a question, she said earlier women comprised merely five to six per cent of the bank’s total home loan borrowers. After the bank introduced ‘Her Ghar’ scheme, the women home borrowers’ number increased to 34 per cent, Bhattacharya said.
Thus, proposed merger of Bhartiya Mahila Bank with SBI will ensure large-scale women empowerment, she said.