New Delhi, Jan 6 (KNN) The public sector lender Canara Bank is putting a lot of focus on the MSMEs and its priority sector advances are expected to cross 40 per cent by December.

“We have focussed on improving priority sector ratio to 40 per cent…it will cross 40 per cent by December.

“Similarly, in MSME, we are close to reaching the targets,” Canara Bank Chairman and Managing Director R K Dubey said in an interview with the Economics Times.
Dubey further said, “I am selective on corporate loans, but aggressive on retail and SME.”

Speaking about the loan demand, he said that the credit growth is well spread but the bank focused on three things — retail loans, priority sector and loans to small and medium enterprises. 

Further, Canara Bank is adding eight new circles (34 at present) in Jalandhar, Gurgaon, Indore, Varanasi, Raipur, Kochi, Tirupati, and Salem by April 2014. The bank has a plan to adopt over 64 villages across the country for integrated development. 

The bank is also planning to expand its overseas presence and add 14 new branches in overseas locations in the next two years. Currently, the bank has five branches at London, Leicester, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Manama (Bahrain) and three representative offices overseas. (KNN Bureau)