ABOUT PRAGATI GRAMEEN BANK

Profile of Pragati Grameen Bank

Introduction

Grameen Bank (GB) has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity. GB provides credit to the poorest of the poor in rural Bangladesh, without any collateral. At GB, credit is a cost effective weapon to fight poverty and it serves as a catalyst in the over all development of socio-economic conditions of the poor who have been kept outside the banking orbit on the ground that they are poor and hence not bankable. Professor Muhammad Yunus, the founder of "Grameen Bank" and its Managing Director, reasoned that if financial resources can be made available to the poor people on terms and conditions that are appropriate and reasonable, "these millions of small people with their millions of small pursuits can add up to create the biggest development wonder."

As on February, 2010, it has 8.04 million borrowers, 97 percent of whom are women. With 2,563 branches, GB provides services in 81,343 villages, covering more than 100 percent of the total villages in Bangladesh.

Grameen Bank's positive impact on its poor and formerly poor borrowers has been documented in many independent studies carried out by external agencies including the World Bank, the International Food Research Policy Institute (IFPRI) and the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS).

ORIGIN OF THE BANK

The year 2005-06 was a UNIQUE year for the Regional Rural Banks in the country. The year witnessed amalgamation of RRBs of the same Sponsor Bank in a State. As many as 89 RRBs were amalgamated into 26 RRBs during 2005-06. Thus the total number of RRBs was reduced to 133 from 196. Now reduce to 96 from 196.

The PRAGATHI GRAMEENA BANK is one among the above 29 RRBs which is Sponsored by Canara Bank a leading Nationalised Bank in the country and came into existence on 12.09.2005 with the amalgamation of following 4 erstwhile RRBs sponsored by Canara Bank vide Govt. Notification No.S.O.1269E dated 12.09.2005 published in Extraordinary Gazette of India Part II Section 3 sub-section (ii) and the Bank is now having 351 branches in 7 districts.

·                     Tungabhadra Gramin Bank with a business of Rs. 1476.95 Crores constituting a share of 54.69% in the total business of Pragathi Gramin Bank

·                     Chitradurga Gramin Bank with a business of Rs. 577.40 Crores constituting a share of 21.38%.

·                     Kolar Gramin Bank with a business of Rs. 446.13 Crores constituting a share of 16.52%.

·                     Sahyadri Gramin Bank with a business of Rs. 200.06 Crores constituting a share of 7.41%. In view of the above, Pragathi Gramin Bank has the rare distinction of having a total business of Rs. 2700.54 Crores now the total bussiness has crossed 4000 crore mark as at 31.03.2007.

Achievements For the year 2008-09

·                     Deposits crossed 2548 crores.

·                     Advances outstanding crossed 2429 crores.

·                     Total Business crossed 4977 crores.

·                     Profits for Q2 recorded over 71.14 crores.

·                     Disbursement crossed 1780 crores for half year ending Mar'08. Out of which, under Priority Sector 1969 crores.

·                     Capital Adequesy-15.57% as against normal 9%.

·                     SHG Formation- accounts-46246 - Beneficiaries 6.47 Lakhs.

·                     SHG Linkage- accounts-17708 and has bagged second prize at state level.

Credit Facilities….

·                     Kisan Credit Card

·                     General Credit Card- hassle free credit for consumption purpose..

·                     Loan for Solar home lighting

·                     Loan for Farm development

·                     Loan against approved securities

·                     Loan for Rural godown Loan for plantation crops.

·                     Loan against gold ornaments.

·                     Minor irrigation loan. Pumpset loan.

·                     Farm machanisation loan.

·                     Vehicle loan for agriculturists.

·                     Loan for sericulture.

·                     Loan for inland fisheries.

·                     Loan for Dairy development.

·                     Loan for purchasing agricultural land.

·                     Loan for Agri clinics/ Agri business.

·                     Loan for Construction of farm houses.

·                     Loan for Lift irrigation.

·                     Loan for Poultry.

·                     Loan for Drip / sprinkler irrigation.

·                     Loan for SSI / retail trade / business enterprise

·                     And many more Schemes

Services

·                     Issuance of DDs on all branches of Canara Bank in Karnataka.

·                     Issuance of DDs on 36 select branches of Canara Bank outside Karnataka.

·                     Starting ATM services shortly.

·                     Remittance of students school / college fees at select branches.

·                     Remittance of electricity bills for customers at select branches.

SERVICE CHARGES
A. Services rendered free of charge:	Balance enquiry, issue of loose cheque leaves, Local cheques collection.
Minimum Balances to be maintained in the SB account	Rs.10/- for NO FRILL accounts. Rs.100/- for accounts without cheque book Rs.500/- for accounts with cheque book
Charges leviable for non-maintenance of minimum balance in SB account	For NO FRILL Accounts	Nil
	For operative SB a/cs with and without cheque book facility	Rs.10/- per month
	For inoperative SB a/cs if balance is less than Rs.100/-	Rs 10/- per half year
Charges for collection of outstation cheques
AMOUNT OF THE INSTRUMENT	CHARGES
Upto and inclusive of Rs. 500/- Rs. 501/- to Rs. 1,000/- Rs. 1,001/- to Rs. 5,000/- Rs. 5,001/- to Rs. 10,000/- Rs. 10,001/- to Rs. 1,00,000/- Rs. 1,00,001/- and above	Rs. 10/- Rs. 15/- Rs. 30/- Rs. 45/- Rs. 4.50 per thousand or part thereof. Rs. 3.50 per thousand or part thereof with a minimum of Rs.450/-
Charges for issue of Demand Draft
Upto and inclusive of Rs. 500/- Rs. 501 to Rs. 1,000/- Rs. 1,001/- to Rs.5000/- Rs. 5,001/- to Rs.10000/-	Rs. 10/- Rs. 15/- Rs. 25/- Rs. 30/-
Rs. 10,001/- and above	Rs. 2/- per thousand or part thereof with a minimum of Rs. 30/- and maximum of Rs. 5,000/-.
	There is a ceiling of Rs. 5000/- in case of commission on DDs/MTs [i.e., the amount of commission collected on Demand Drafts will not exceed Rs.5000/-].
Charges for issue of cheque books, if any	60 cheque leaves are issued free of cost in a calendar year. Thereafter, Re1/- per cheque leaf for Non-MICR cheques and Rs.2/- per cheque leaf for MICR cheque is charged. In case of CA, OD, OCC accounts – No free cheques. Re1/- per cheque leaf for Non-MICR cheques and Rs.2/- per cheque leaf for MICR cheque is charged.
Charges for account statement	Rs.20/-
Charges for account closure, if any	Rs.10/- per (S.B) A/c closure before 01 year
Charges for deposit/withdrawal at ATM locations, if any	We are not extending this service

Branch Network

•        363 branches and 4 Extension Counters spread over 8 districts.
•        Four extension counters.
•        26 branches in urban places.
•        59 branches in semi-urban centres.

District	No.of branches	Regional Office address	Phone No.
Kolar	35	Pragathi Gramin Bank, Regional office, OPP : Maharshi vidya mandir, old extension , KOLAR-563101	08152-223109
Chitradurga	65	Pragathi Gramin Bank, Regional office, PB No 70, I.U.D.P. Lay-out, N.H-4, CHITRADURGA. –577501	08194-234355
Shimoga	27
Raichur	53	Pragathi Gramin Bank, Regional office, ANR Towers , Opp: west police station, Station Road, RAICHUR-584101	08532-232543
Davanagere	44	Pragathi Gramin Bank, Regional office, No, 2766, Chaitra complex Mama’s Joint Road, MCC ‘B’ Block DAVANAGERE - 577 004	08192-223843
Bellary	67	Pragathi Gramin Bank, Regional office, Modi Chambers, II Cross, Gandhinagar, BELLARY –583103.	08392-254009
Koppal	42	Pragathi Gramin Bank, Regional office, Opp : D.C Office complex , Hospet Road, KOPPAL –583132	08539-221318
Chikkaballapur	30
Total	363

Future Plan of Pragati Grameena Bank in 2009-10:

•        Reaching a total business of Rs.6023 Crores by March 2010

•        No Frill Accounts – Opening another 1,00,000 new accounts and bringing them under Financial Inclusion [presently there are 3,87,746 such accounts as at 31.03.2008]

•        Reaching the mark of Rs. 140 Crores under SME Sector [Small & Medium Enterprises]

•        Bringing down the gross NPAs to Rs.67.79 Crores there by bringing the level of Gross NPA to 2.79% of total advances outstanding

•        Earning Rs.87 Crores profit Setting up of 25 ATMs.
•        Introducing debit/credit cards
•        Entering foreign exchange business
•        Cross-selling of Mutual Fund products.
•        Bringing “1.2” million families under Financial Inclusion.
•        Pragati Grameena Bank will be contributing to the rural        development by giving priority to the following sectors

-         Watershed development
- Minor irrigation projects
- Rural godown
- Horticulture
- Fruit processing units

The Pragathi Grameena Bank has recorded a net profit of Rs. 55.21 crore, registering a 30 percent growth rate over the previous years profit of Rs. 42.18 crore, according to Vincent D’Silva, chairman of the bank. Speaking of the bank’s performance for 2007-08, he told presspersons here on Thursday that the bank’s total business had exceeded the Rs. 4,000-crore mark for the first time (Rs. 4,031.48 crore). The bank came into existence with a new name by amalgamating e four regional rural banks (RRBs), Tungabhadra in Bellary, Raichur and Koppa Chitradurga, Sahyadri, Kolar, all sponsored by Canara Bank in mid 2005. All 35 branches of the bank, spread over seven districts, had earned profit, he said. Mr. D’Silva said the bank, besides achieving all objectives of amalgamation, had emerged as the second largest RRB in the country in terms of loans issued and net profit earned. Before amalgamation, three out of the four erstwhile RRBs had a credit-deposit (CD) ratio of 76.85 to 80.12. After amalgamation the CD ratio has touched 98.2 which indicated that the bank had been taking steps to bridge the credit gap of the command area. He said that the bank had achieved 118 per cent of the total target allocated in the Annual Action Plan (AAP) of all the seven districts with advances under priority sector being to the tune of Rs. 1,704.28 crore, registering 84.15 percent as against the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) stipulation being 60 per cent. The bank has received second prize at the State-level as the Best Performing Bank under RRBs category instituted by NABARD. The Hsahalli branch in Bellary district had shown exemplary performance under the formation of SHGs and credit linkage.

BELLARY: Pragathi Grameen Bank has accomplished the three objectives set by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram for Regional Rural Banks (RRBS), such as launching farmers’ clubs, issuing Kissan credit cards and making at least one village money-lender free by each branch during 2008-09.         The bank, which had its presence in seven districts with 354 branches, had formed 453 farmers’ clubs, issued 54,131 Kissan credit cards (152 in each branch) and freed 391 villages from the clutches of moneylenders, N. Ramesh, bank chairman, told presspersons here on Thursday.

Mr. Ramesh said that the bank had been given the State-level award instituted by NABARD for best performance under self-help group bank linkage programme and exceptionally well-performing farmers’ club promoted by the bank for 2008-09.

Lending for construction of 241 rural agricultural godowns and taking their number to 714 was a national record. Disbursement of loans to farmers to avoid distress sale of their produce amounted to Rs. 184 crore, he said. For the first time, the bank had financed Rs. 15 crore for setting up a wind power generating company at Hospet under a consortium agreement with sponsor bank (Canara Bank), he said.

The bank recorded a net profit of Rs. 71.14 crore for 2008-09. The total business increased from Rs. 4,031.48 crore to Rs. 4,977.68 crore, recording an increase of Rs. 946,20 crore with 23.47 per cent growth rate.

Performance Highlights of the bank for the year 2009-10

1.       Bank emerged as No. 1 RRB in Karnataka State in terms of total business.  It is now second largest RRB in Southern India.

2.       Branchless banking concept adopted  - Smart card introduced to Social Security pensioners.

3.       Total business of the bank increased to Rs. 6209 Crore from Rs. 4978 Crore (March 2009) – Growth 24.73%.

4.       Aggregate deposits increased to rs. 3222 Crore from Rs. 2549 Crore (March–2009) – Growth 26.43%.

5.       Advances outstanding increased to Rs. 2987 Crore from Rs. 2429 Crore (March – 2009) – Growth 22.96%.

6.       Advances disbursement increased to Rs. 2225 Crore from Rs. 1781 Crore (March – 2009) – Growth 24.93%.

7.       Capital adequacy ratio of the bank stood at 15.30%.

8.       C.D. Ratio – 92.68%.

9.       Percentage of priority sector advances to total advances – 89.96%

10.     Per branch productivity     -        Rs. 17.25 Crore

          Per staff Productivity         -        Rs. 3.02 Crore

11.     6 new branches opened during the year.

12.     11 branches have more than Rs. 50 Crore total business.

13.     Bank’s achievement under AAP is 137%.

14.     170 Villages freed from the clutches of Money Lenders during the year.  With this the total number of Money Lender Free Villages went upto 561.

15.     No frill accounts opened by the bank               -        443641

16.     New SHGs formed – 8379, SHgs credit linked-13180.  Loan amount disbursed to SHGs crossed Rs.74 Crore during the year.

17.     12, 41, 081 families are brought under Financial Inclusion.

18.     Gross NPA level to advances outstanding stood at 1.94% and the net NPA level is 0.70% 42 branches accomplished NIL NPA status.

19.     1094 staff members trained during the year.

20.     Bank’s total clientele base exceeds         -        Rs.28.96 Lakh.

Director Report for the year 2009-10:

The Board of Directors of Pragati Grameena Bank have immense puasur in presenting the 31^st Annual Report on the performance of the bank along with balance sheet and profit and loss account for the financial year ended 31.03.2010 and audit report thereon in the term of Section 20(1) Regional Rural Banks Act 1976.

Brief Introduction:

Established on 01.12.1978 under the RBIs Act 1976, the bank has completed 30 years of its meaningful services to the people of Bellary and Raichur Districts – Since inception, the bank is striving hard to achieve its set objectives in its area of operation.  The bank has now extended its coverage to all the urban and semi urban centres in both the districts.

The head office building has been well equipped with centralized air conditioning, computerized functioning, solar lighting, modern gadget and a sprawling well maintained garden.  The head office premises is regarded as one of the Best Corporate Office not only in Bellary city but also in the entire Hyderabad Karnataka Area.  The bank enjoys the popularity as the Peoples Bank in the area.

During the year 2009-10 the bank crossed a major milestone by surpassing Rs.2225 crore from Rs.1781 crore (March 089) a growth 24.93% over the previous year.  Further, the bank has nearly doubled its total business during the last 3 years from Rs.1,000 crores as on March 2006 to Rs.1,916 crores as on March 2010.  Systematic productive and sustained efforts are continued to accomplish all round excellence.

2.      Share Capital:

The bank has an authorized share capital Rs.50,000 and an issued and paid up capital of Rs.10,000 thousand contributed by the three share holders, Vice Governor and Government of Karnataka (15%).

Share Capital Deposits:

During the year 1997-98 the bank was taken up for restructuring and sun total of Rs.2,51,800 thousand was sanctioned to cleanse the Balance Sheet, accordingly, an aggregate sum of 187577 thousands has been received from all the three share holders proportionately in two branches.  The balance sheet amount inspite of our best efforts was not released till date as on 31.03.2010.

3.      Deposits:

The bank has achieved a growth of Rs.33,22,232 thousands during the year.  The breakup of existing level of deposits is as under.

i)        The growth in deposits during the year was a 26.43%.  The percentage of demand deposit has come down during the year on account of some of the state government departments preferring banks with core banking facility and shifted there accounts from our bank.

ii)       Per-branch Deposits rose from Rs.2,54,863 thousands as on March 2009 to Rs.32,22,232 thousands as on March 2010.

iii)      Per employee deposits increased from Rs.15,792 thousands as on March-2009 to Rs.17,099 thousands as on March-2010.

4.      Borrowing:

Borrowing from NABARD and sponsor bank are the major sources of funds for our bank besides deposits.  The details of limits sanctioned and refinance outstanding as on 31.03.2010.

The Bank continued to make prompt repayment to NABARD and the sponsor bank.

5.      Cash and Balance with Banks:

Judicious cash management at the branches has been accorded top priority.  Steps were taken to ensure maintenance of minimum cash balance both sat branches and link offices so that interest losses on ideal cash is Kept to the barest minimum.

The average cash balance held was 1.83% of the average deposits which is slightly on the higher side primarily on account of constraints forced by our branches to the link currency chests via, sunder restrictions imposed by branches of link banks due to their internal constraints.  Non-availability of timely conveyance at rural centres, lack of adequate security etc., None-the-less conscious efforts continue to be made to maintain timer cash balance at all the broachers.  In this direction, the bank has decided to establish a currency chest at Bellary and an application has been submitted to Reserve Bank of India for licence, the principle approval of Reserve bank of India in this regard has been received and further action is being initiated.

6.      NPA Management:

The following strategies were adopted for recovery of NPAs;

i)        Identification of top NPA branches in each area for intensive follow-ups by the area managers and adoption of branches by heads of the department of head office for follow up.

ii)       Strengthen the manager (Assets Management Departments) by posting an additional of liver for constant follow up of NPA.

iii)      High value of advances accounts were personally monitored by the General Manager and the Chairman.

iv)      Invoking the provisions of SARFAESI Act wherever applicable for recovery.

v)       Continued our friendly approach by way of Pragati Sameepya (Customer Meet), which enabled us to achieve excellence results.

vi)      Conducting of Bank adalats for speedy disposal of compromise proposals.

7.      Transfer Price Mechanism:

The bank has adopted a fair transfer price mechanism on funds lent to and borrowed from internally as under;

i)                   Interest rate on funds lent to head office on total monthly average deposits at 9.50% PA.

ii)                 Interest rate on funds borrowed from Head Office on total monthly average advances at 8.00% PA.

8.      Technical Monitoring and Evaluation Cell (TME) TMC (Cell-Farm Sector):

The technical monitoring and evaluation cell (form section) of our bank was set up on 01.01.1987 with a qualified agriculture graduates.  The key personal of the cell helped the broacher in implementation of schemes like Life irrigation, setting up of vermicompost units, plantation and horticulture, form mechanization, medicinal and aromatic plants, during development, state for Government reading etc.,

TMC (Cell-non-form sector):

The TMC cell for non-form sector was setup and 01.07.1997.  The key personal for the cell are going the operating – staff in technical and economical appraisal of proposals.  The key personnel put up the proposals, after satisfying the economic viability and technical feasibility of proposals for section.  The official conducts the visits for pre-sanction.  The official conducts the visits for pre-sanctions inspection of high value loan proposals.

9.      Women Development Cell (WDC) Activities:

With an objective to create awareness among the women and to increase credit flow to them.  The bank has setup women development cell (WDC) headed by a women development cell (WDC) headed by a Lady Office during 1998.  The activities of WDC during the year 2009-10 are listed below:

a)       Conducted 30 women awareness programmes.

b)       Book writing training programmes to 36 SHGs.

c)       Co-ordination with branches for formation of women SHGs.

d)       Cell actively participated in the Krishi Mela exhibition conducted by agriculture research centre, Bellary.

e)       The Bank celebrated the international womens day on 08.03.2010 in a befitting manner.

10.    National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP)

The government has launched National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme in our area of operation.  The bank has extended its full support to the Government by operating, saving bank accounts of the Bank has received appreciation from the District administration for the excellent co-operation rendered by our branches.