Date:18/02/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/02/18/stories/2005021806220500.htm

Andhra Pradesh

SBI to have 5,000 ATMs across nation

By Our Special Correspondent

VISAKHAPATNAM, FEB. 17. The State Bank of India (SBI) will have as many as 5,000 ATMs all over the country by the end of the financial year for massive connectivity, its Deputy Managing Director, S.K. Bhattacharyya, announced here on Thursday.

Talking to mediapersons after inaugurating the new premises of the SBI Zonal Office, he said all SBI branches would be on core banking by next year. "Core banking means if you are a customer here and go to Hyderabad, you can have connectivity there. At present we have 120 core banking branches and by the end of March next year, all SBI branches will be on core banking. There are 9,700 SBI branches and adding our associate banks, the number is about 14,000. We have taken advantage of this vast network,'' he said.

Commendable record

The bank at present has 823 branches and 333 ATMs in Andhra Pradesh. Five ATMs were added only on Wednesday evening and 40 more branches would be added by next year. Not a single branch in the State was a loss-making one and all of them were fully computerised. As many as 570 of the branches were computerised in just five-and-a-half months and this rapid pace at which SBI was computerised had no parallel in the world, he claimed.