In good credit

It was Central Bank of India’s first annual general meeting (AGM) since its Initial Public Offer (IPO) last year. "This has been a challenging year. In more ways than one, it has also been a year of solutions, of possibilities, of strengths coming to the fore,” Homai Daruwalla, the Bank’s chairperson and managing director, told the shareholders on July 31, 2008. "The Bank that was set up during the days of the Swaraj movement to meet the aspirations of the Indian people has now become a people’s bank in the truest sense. The Bank’s IPO received overwhelming response from investors in various segments. The IPO attracted a record number of 7.91 lakh applications and was oversubscribed 62.07 times which is the highest ever subscription received by any bank till date.”

Daruwalla mentioned that Central Bank has earned a ranking "as one of India’s top four nationalized banks in The Economic Times Brand Equity’s list of Top 50 Service Brands published in June 2008. This establishes clearly the famous words of the Bank’s illustrious visionary and founder Sir Sorabji Poch­khanawala: ‘The Central Bank lives on people’s faith… it fully entrusts itself to the keeping of its own people.’” The Bank posted a net profit of Rs 550.16 crore for the year ended March 31, 2008. Total business grew to Rs 1,84,607 crore, registering a growth of 35.47 percent. The ratio of net NPAs (Non-Performing Assets) to Net Advances reduced from 1.70 percent to 1.45 percent in the space of a year.

Homai Daru­walla: consoli­dation and challenge

The chairperson maintained that "real innovation starts from the mindset… Many new technology initiatives have been taken to broaden delivery channels.” In the financial year 2008-09, the Bank has planned a slew of initiatives — e-Payment Gateway (for booking air/train tickets, hotel reservations, shopping, etc), multi city cheques, sale of gold coins, online trading, Visa Gold/Premium Cards — to shake off the rather fuddy-duddy image unfortunately acquired over the last few decades and to remain in good credit with customers in a fiercely competitive banking scenario.

"The financial year 2008-09 will be a challenging year for banks. The global liquidity and credit crisis, slowdown in the domestic economy and the elevated inflationary pressures are going to impact the performance of banks,” Daruwalla stated. India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) is likely to touch nine percent growth in 2007-08 as compared to 9.6 percent in 2006-07. The growth drivers of the economy will continue to be the service sector and the industry with their growth estimated to be 10.6 percent and 8.6 percent respectively. The agricultural sector is estimated to grow at 2.6 percent with foodgrain production slated to touch a record level of 227.3 million tonnes during 2007-08, Daruwalla told the shareholders.