Kolkata: The Hubli region Syndicate Bank has occupied the first position in India in loan disbursal. The bank covering four districts has disbursed Rs. 350 crore as agricultural loans and Rs. 600 crore as advances. The region comprising Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Shimoga, has done a total business of Rs 1,610 crore as on September 30, 2007, with the highest deposits of Rs 806 crore and advances of Rs 804 crore. The Pigmy deposit scheme was one of the major reasons behind this splendind achievement.

It was Syndicate Bank, which pioneered the concept of 'Pigmy Scheme' in India. This monetary scheme is very beneficial for small traders, daily wage earners and farmers. An amount as small as Rs. 10 can be deposited daily under this scheme. The unique character of this scheme is that people don't have to go to the bank instead an agent from the bank collects the amount and deposits it into their accounts.

The Pigmy Scheme was tremendously successful in inculcating saving habits and funding other capital requirements of this segment of consumers. Other banks have widely copied the concept and have implemented it in different areas of the country.

Riding on the success of the 'Pigmy Scheme', Syndicate Bank is now all set to introduce a new version of the scheme. Called 'Pigmy plus 2007- deposit scheme', this initiative will help improve daily saving habits among small time businessmen, retail traders and individuals.

Syndicate Bank is one of the pioneer banks in India and has a wide network of 2,136 branches in 29 states and four union territories. As much as 56 percent of the total network of Syndicate Bank lies in rural and semi-urban areas. Syndicate Bank has been instrumental in bringing the benefits of IT developments to its consumers. One of the first banks to adopt core-banking technology, Syndicate Bank recently launched an online application facility for its various retail loans.