India's third largest private sector lender, Axis Bank is increasing its presence in the state of Orissa. The bank has recently opened two new branches at Jatani and Talcher and soon it is going to have its branches in all the 30 districts of the state.

These two new branches of Axis Bank have been operational since the last week and by April 2010, the bank plans to set up branches at six more places. The bank's President of East Zone, S K Mitra said, "We want to cover all the districts by the end of the next financial year and the number of branches will go from the existing 26 to 40. We will seek RBI's sanction for 8 more new branches for the next financial year."

Mr Mitra further informed that the bank has also set up an agriculture cluster at Cuttack and it now plans to start another agricultural cluster at Sambalpur by the end of the ongoing fiscal. These clusters are set up to fulfill the credit requirement of the farmers in the adjoining areas. For instance the agricultural cluster at Sambalpur is likely to benefit the farmers in the Hirakud Command Area (HCA).

Moreover to enhance the credit flow to the ailing small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the bank has also opened a specialised SME cell at Bhubaneswar in Orissa. "We are also working on a plan to enhance the micro-finance lending substantially. We have exposure to the NGOs like Viswa and Bandhan and we want to further expand our base," added Mitra.

Axis Bank has been eager to improve its credit-deposit (CD) ratio in Orissa. Mitra informed that as on January 15th the bank had a CD ratio of 33% and it plans to increase this ratio to 40% by the end March 2009.

The total deposit-advance of the bank in Orissa is expected to increase to Rs 3500 crore said Mr Mitra. "We are looking for good bankable proposals by the corporate sector and entrepreneurs," he added.

In the third quarter ending December 31st, Axis Bank has posted a 63% jump in its net profit to Rs.500.86 crore from Rs.306.83 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.