The largest lender of the country, State Bank of India has planned to increase its branch as well as ATM count all over the country this fiscal. The bank plans to do so in order to increase its net profits as well as bring about a rise in its return on assets (ROA).

"Depending upon the needs and requirements of the people, we have planned to open up more than 1,000 branches across the country. Of these, more than 50 per cent are targeted at rural areas as a part of our financial inclusion target specified by the Reserve Bank of India," said A. Krishna Kumar, managing director and group executive (national banking) of the SBI.

"We already have more than 25,000 ATMs across the country and we plan to have another 10,000 within the next fiscal," he said.

The net profits as well as ROA of the bank declined from Q1 to Q3 during the last fiscal.

"The low return on assets reflects that we are not using our funds efficiently. The way forward is to expand our operations. New branches, ATMs and Internet banking will help to increase our operating efficiency by increasing the volume of transactions." Krishna Kumar said.