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Dissertation Report On

Syndicate Bank
Submitted Submitted By: Prof. Vikas Agarwal Ahmad 6th tri. HOD.Accord Business School (Marketing) d Business School To: Iqbal PGDM Accor

Under the supervision of: Mr. Navneet Saxena

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Faculty guide Accord Business School

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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1.1

BACKGROUND OF STUDY

Retail banking is typical mass-market banking where individual customers use local branches of larger commercial banks which act as one-stop shop for as many financial services as possible. Retail banking can be crudely defined as the antonym of wholesale or bulk banking. It is nothing, but shared business. For eg: a deposit of Rs.1 lakh from single customer vs. small deposits of Rs.10,000 each from 10 different customers. Retail banking generally refers to offering financial services, products related to deposits and assets to individual customers for personal consumption. It refers to a banking in which banking institutions execute transactions directly with consumers, rather than with other corporations or banks. Banks concentrate on various segments like professionals, housewives, pensioners, children, salaried class etc. Different types of products and services like savings and recurring accounts, mortgages, personal loans, debit/credit cards, certificates of deposit etc. are offered by banks to the above mentioned marked segments. Some retail banks have even made a push into investment services such as wealth management, brokerage accounts, private banking and retirement planning. Retail banking is, however, quite broad in nature - it refers to the dealing of commercial banks with individual customers, both on liabilities and assets sides of the balance sheet. Fixed, current / savings accounts on the liabilities side; and mortgages, loans (e.g., personal, housing, auto, and educational) on the assets side, are the more important of the products offered by banks. Related ancillary services include credit cards, or depository services. Retail banking refers to provision of banking services to individuals and small business where the financial institutions are dealing with large number of low value transactions. Retail banking and retail lending are often used as synonyms but in fact, the later is just the part of retail banking. In retail banking all the needs of individual

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customers are taken care of in a well-integrated manner. Todays retail banking sector is characterized by three basic characteristics: multiple products (deposits, credit cards, insurance, investments and securities), multiple channels of distribution (call center, branch and internet) and multiple customer groups (consumer, small business and corporate). Retail banking is now an alternative available for the banks for increasing their earnings. Retail Banking is an attractive market segment having a large number of varied classes of customers. Retail Banking focuses on individual and small units. Hence, the risk is spread and the recovery is good. Surplus deployable funds can be put into use by the banks. Products can be designed, developed and marketed as per individual needs.

Retail banking has immense opportunities in a growing economy like India. As the growth story gets unfolded in India, retail banking is going to emerge a major driver. The rise of Indian middle class is an important contributory factor in this regard. The percentage of middle to high-income Indian households is expected to continue rising. The younger population not only wields increasing purchasing power, but as far as acquiring personal debt is concerned, they are perhaps more comfortable than previous generations. Improving consumer purchasing power, coupled with more liberal attitudes towards personal debt, is contributing to Indias retail banking segment. The combination of above factors promises substantial growth in retail sector, which at present is in the nascent stage. Due to bundling of services and delivery channels, the areas of potential conflicts of interest tend to increase in universal banks and financial conglomerates. Some of the key policy issues relevant to the retail-banking sector are: financial inclusion, responsible lending, and access to finance, long-term savings, financial capability, consumer protection, regulation and financial crime prevention.

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The domain of retail banking market has tremendous growth potential for banks and finance companies, as at present it is largely untapped. The penetration level is 2.5 to 3 % and is in a scenario when the requirements of the consumers are growing. In the past, people never believed in buying consumer goods on credit. But today the attitude is changing. The demand for consumer products has increased. Today, about 70% of consumer goods purchased are through finance schemes/loans as against 40% about 1 to 6 years ago. The home loans alone account for nearly two-third of the total retail portfolio of the bank.

Graph 1 : Total Net bank credit According to the Reserve Bank of

Net Bank Credit

India annual report for 2008-09, as

14.1%

on March 22, 2009, retail credit outstanding loans, amounted for to to Rs 3,70,000 crore, including housing loans loans consumer individuals

85.9%
Retail credit Others

durables,

against shares and bonds, other non-priority sector personal loans

and advances against fixed deposits. Behind this figure were several factors: sectoral GDP shifts, demographic changes, growing middle-class disposable incomes, low NPAs and high returns, low interest rates, growing consumerism and fiscal incentives for housing. Housing loans constitute about 50 per cent of bank credit, with loans for automobiles, consumer durables, and education, and credit card receivables making up the rest.

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Table 1 : Composition of Retail Credit COMPOSITION OF RETAIL CREDIT (Figures in brackets indicate percentage to the total) Rs. In crores Sr. No Type Mar-06 Mar-07 1 2 3 4 5 6 Housing Consumer durables loans to individuals against shares/bonds other non-priority sector personal loans sub-total Gross bank credit 14100 (3.52) 3855 (0.96) 2146 (0.54) 15409 (3.84) 35510 (8.86) 400818 (100) 16143 (3.44) 5566 (1.19) 1697 (0.36) 18064 (3.85) 41470 (8.84) 469153 (100)

Mar-08 22346 (4.16) 7015 (1.31) 1520 (0.28) 23402 (4.36) 54283 (10.11) 536727 (100)

Source: Report on Trend and progress of Banking in India 2007-08,RBI

A banks retail offering can be broadly categorized into core service, facilitating service, and supporting service. Core service is the reason for being in the market, facilitating services are needed so that the core service can be used, and supporting services exactly discriminates the service package from the services of competitors.

Table 2 : Categorization of retail bank services:

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Core services

Facilitating services

Supporting services

________________________________________________________________________ Payment services Cash Making payments at door Foreign Requirement Traveler Charges DD/ Bankers Cheque IT Current account EFT and ATM card Standing from instructions for Debit cards Services citizens Telephone banking Internet banking Conversion Loan Consumer products: Current account loans, Savings account of excess to senior customers Telephone banking Credit cards Internet banking Currency step

savings account

making payments Interbranch/interbank transfer of funds Safety vault

balance to Time deposits Delivery of loan at promised time period Interest rate option: Fixed/floating Flexibility in pre-payment of loan Counseling Legal on Realfor estate markets services documentation ECS for payment of loan installments

personal loans, housing Time deposit account loans, educational loans

Insurance products: Life Current account insurance, schemes pension Savings account Time deposits
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Additional facility members Counseling for

insurance family on post

Safety vaults

retirement savings

________________________________________________________________________ Ubiquitous retail banking products are now the order of the day, with "anywhere, anytime, any-type banking" having come to stay. Exploitation of the "glocalisation" (think global, act local) potential requires robust growth in retail loans. Retail loans constitute 5 per cent of GDP vis--vis about 35 per cent for other Asian economies South Korea (55 per cent), Taiwan (52 per cent), Malaysia (33 per cent) and Thailand (18 per cent). The level of retail banking penetration, at 12 per cent of total loans and advances, also continues to be significantly low. With a jump in the Indian economy from a manufacturing sector to a nascent service sector, banking as a whole is undergoing a change. A larger option for the consumer is getting translated into a larger demand for financial products and customization of services is fast becoming the norm than a competitive advantage. With the retail banking sector expected to grow at a rate of 30%, players are focussing more and more on the retail and are waking up to the potential of this sector of banking.

The Indian players are bullish on the retail business and this is not totally unfounded. There are two main reasons behind this. Firstly, it is now undeniable that the face of the Indian consumer is changing. This is reflected in a change in the urban household income pattern. The direct fallout of such a change will be the consumption patterns and hence the banking habits of Indians, which will now be skewed towards retail products. At the same time, India compares pretty poorly with the other economies of the world that are now becoming comparable in terms of spending patterns with the opening up of our economy. For instance, while the total outstanding retail loans in Taiwan is around 41% of GDP, the figure in India stands at less than 5%. The comparison with the West is even more staggering. Another comparison that is natural when comparing retail sectors is the use of credit cards. Here also, the potential lies in the fact that of all the consumer expenditure in India in 2008, less than 2% was through plastic, the

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________________________________________________________________________ corresponding US figure standing at 18%. Hence, there is vast scope for expanding retail banking in India. Retail segment in India has been booming of late due to high liquidity, changing demographic profile, falling interest rates and increasing demand for consumer finances. The annual growth in bank credit to the commercial sector is at 25.4% as on March 31, 2008 and was lower than 27.2% against previous year. Till 2011, retail banking is expected to grow at a CAGR of 28% to touch a figure of Rs. 9,700 billion. This requires expansion and diversification of retail product portfolio, better penetration and faster service mechanism.

1.2

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

What is the overall effectiveness of the Bank in performing its retail banking activities? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the Bank while providing retail banking services? What are the future expansion opportunities and threats posed by other Banks? Reviewing the progress of the Bank towards goals and objectives.

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________________________________________________________________________ Whether the products offered by the Bank are effective enough to cater to the needs of the customers? Whether the customers have easy access to the Banks services?

1.3

NEED AND IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

Need of the study: To suit the needs of each customer group like the salaried people, labourers, pensioners, housewives, students, technocrats, professionals, traders etc. To change the outlook of people towards banking. To build a strong customer base. To provide personalized services to the customers. To increase the credit growth of the Bank.

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________________________________________________________________________ To provide a framework for effective Customer Relationship Management.

1.4

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

o To evaluate the retail banking services offered by Syndicate Bank. o Innovation and development of the services offered by the Bank to enhance its existing services. o To analyze the impact of the retail products over the profitability of the Bank. o To provide anytime, anywhere access of the retail banking services to the customers. o To reduce the operational costs of the Bank.

CHAPTER 2

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1

TYPE OF RESEARCH

Research is a systematic and objective identification collection, analysis, dissemination and use of information for the purpose of improving decision making related to the identification and solution of a problem. Business research is a systematic inquiry that provides information to guide business decisions. This includes reporting, descriptive, explanatory and predictive studies.

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________________________________________________________________________ The research design adopted for this study is descriptive research design. Descriptive study is a fact-finding investigation with adequate interpretation. For this study, information was gathered from various sources like internet, textbooks, magazine, newspapers, and questionnaires.

2.2

SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

Sampling is the process of selecting units (e.g., people, organizations) from a population of interest so that by studying the sample we may fairly generalize our results back to the population from which they were chosen. Sample design is about choosing how many elements (businesses, people etc) to include in a survey in order to provide a good basis for measuring economic and social phenomena. Sample design allows researchers to get estimates from a population so large that every member cannot be interviewed.

There are two types of sampling techniques: Probability Sampling: This technique is based on the theory of probability. Here, every element of the population has an equal chance of being selected in the sample. Non-Probability Sampling: This technique is not based on the theory of probability. It does not provide an equal chance of selection to each population element.

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The technique used in this study is the simple random sampling. This sampling technique gives each element an equal an independent chance of being selected. An equal chance means equal probability of selection, e.g., in a population of 300, each element theoretically has 1/300th chance of being selected. An independent chance means that the draw of one element will not affect the chances of other elements being selected.

2.3

SAMPLE SIZE

Sample is a unit that represents the characteristics of a target population. For this study, the sample size will consist of 100 respondents. The respondents will be the customers of the company.

2.4

SAMPLE DESCRIPTION

For this study, the universal sample comprised of 100 respondents. The respondents consisted of both men and women from different stratas of the society. The customers of the Bank range from rich businessmen to the underprivileged farmers. The customers include both the self employed as well as salaried people. For constructing this sample, 100 customers of the Bank were

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________________________________________________________________________ selected randomly and interviewed. The sample consists of respondents with different age, qualification, income group and needs.

2.5

INSTRUMENTATION TECHNIQUE

The instrumentation technique used for this study consists of questionnaires. A questionnaire is a schedule consisting of a number of coherent questions related to the various aspects of the topic under study. Questionnaires are a popular and convenient means of collecting data. For this study, questionnaires include suitable combination of rating scale, ranking scale, open and closed ended questions.

2.6

ACTUAL COLLECTION OF DATA

a) Primary data Data collected directly, fresh and raw are known to be as primary data. The primary data will be collected from the customers of the Bank through questionnaires.

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________________________________________________________________________ b) Secondary data Secondary data are the data which have already been used for some other purposes and are collected from the company. The secondary data are the data based on second-hand information. It is the data which have already been collected, compiled and presented earlier by any agency. Thus data collected indirectly and from the past records are known as secondary data. The secondary data would be collected from the records of the Bank, loan compendium, internet, RBI journals, books, newspapers, trade journals and various management books.

2.7

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Though the present study aims to achieve the above mentioned objectives in full earnest and accuracy, yet certain limitations have hampered the work. The limitations are:o The study is limited only to SYNDICATE BANK in Bangalore. o Time is a major constraint.
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________________________________________________________________________ o Sample size is also limited. o Getting accurate responses from the respondents due to their inherent problems, like, they may be partial or refuse to cooperate. o Respondents may have to be contacted repeatedly, else alternate respondent may have to be identified, which proves to be cumbersome. o Concentration on the retail banking aspects of the Bank only.

CHAPTER 3

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PROFILES

3.1

INDUSTRY PROFILE

Banks in India have played a significant role in the development of the Indian economy. Commercial banks in India have traditionally focused on meeting the short-term financial needs of industry, trade and agriculture. Dominated by public sector, the banking industry has so far acted as an efficient partner in growth and the development of the country. Driven by socialist ideologies and the welfare state concept, public sector banks have long been the supporters of agriculture and other priority sectors. They act as crucial channels of the government in its

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________________________________________________________________________ efforts to ensure equitable economic development. At present, there are 286 scheduled commercial banks in the country, with a network of 67,742 branches. Scheduled commercial banks are the ones that are listed in the second schedule to the RBI Act and may further be classified as public sector banks, private sector banks and foreign banks. Scheduled commercial banks have a presence throughout India, with nearly 69.72% of bank branches located in rural or semiurban areas of the country. A large number of these branches belong to the public sector banks.

Public sector banks make up the largest category of banks in the Indian banking system. There are 27 public sector banks in India. They include the SBI and its associate banks and 19 nationalized banks. Nationalized banks are governed by the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act 1970 and 1980. The banks nationalized under the Banking Companies (Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act 1970 and 1980 are referred to as corresponding new banks. Syndicate Bank is a corresponding new bank, nationalized in 1969 under the Bank Acquisition Act.

Since the nationalization of banks in 1969, the public sector banks or the nationalized banks have acquired a place of prominence and have since then had seen tremendous progress. The need to become highly customer focused has forced the slow-moving public sector banks to adopt a fast track approach. The unleashing of products and services through the net has galvanized players at all levels of the banking and financial institutions market grid to look anew at their existing portfolio offering.

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________________________________________________________________________ Public sector banks operate in the remotest possible areas of the country and give employment opportunity to one and all. As a contrast to their private sector counterparts, technological up gradation is still in infancy in public sector banks. The most astonishing feature of the public sector banks is that many employees are not computer literate and the personnels average age is 40+. These banks are also subject to limited government interference. But the last decade has seen many positive developments in the Indian banking sector. These banks have finally worked up to the competitive dynamics of the new Indian market and are addressing the relevant issues to take on the multifarious challenges of globalization. The Internet has emerged as the new and challenging frontier of marketing with the conventional physical world tenets being just as applicable like in any other marketing medium.

The policy makers, which comprise the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Ministry of Finance and related government and financial sector regulatory entities, have made several notable efforts to improve regulation in the Indian banking sector. Though these banks have established an outstanding track record of innovation, growth and value creation, however, improved regulations, innovation, growth and value creation in the sector remain limited to a small part of it especially private sector banks. Indias banking industry must strengthen itself significantly if it has to support the modern and vibrant economy which India aspires to be.

While the onus for this change lies mainly with bank managements, an enabling policy and regulatory framework will also be critical to their success.

The banking sector reforms undertaken in India from 1992 onwards were basically aimed at ensuring the safety and soundness of financial institutions and at the same time at making the banking system strong, efficient, functionally diverse and competitive. The reforms included measures for arresting the decline in productivity, efficiency and profitability of the banking sector. Furthermore, it

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________________________________________________________________________ was recognized that the Indian international standards of banking system should be in tune with

capital

adequacy, prudential regulations, and

accounting and disclosure standards. Financial soundness and consistent supervisory practices, as evident in its level of compliance with the Basel Committees Core Principles for Effective Banking Supervision, have made the banking system resilient to global shocks.

The financial sector reforms have provided the necessary platform for the banking sector to operate on the basis of operational flexibility and functional autonomy, thereby enhancing efficiency, productivity and profitability. The reforms also brought about structural changes in the financial sector and succeeded in easing external constraints on its operation, introducing transparency in reporting procedures, restructuring and recapitalizing banks and enhancing the competitive element in the market through the entry of new banks. The ongoing revolution in information and communication technology has, however, largely bypassed the Indian banking system given the low initial level of automation. The competitive environment created by financial sector reforms has nonetheless compelled the banks to gradually adopt modern technology, albeit to a limited extent, to maintain their market share.

Indian banks have compared favourably on growth, asset quality and profitability with other regional banks over the last few years. While bank lending has been a significant driver of GDP growth and employment, periodic instances of the failure of some weak banks have often threatened the stability of the system. But nonetheless, the banking sector is the fastest growing and the most flourishing sector in the Indian economy. Nonetheless, these banks should strive to penetrate the untapped areas of the market too to overshadow the downward trend in this sector.

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3.2

COMPANY PROFILE

The difference between a successful person and others is not the lack of strength or knowledge, but rather lack of will

Syndicate Bank is one of the oldest and major commercial banks of India and was established in 1925 in Udupi, Karnataka. It was originally known as Canara

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________________________________________________________________________ Industrial and Banking Syndicate Limited but was renamed as Syndicate Bank Limited with effect from Jan 1, 1964 and was later nationalized in 1969. It was started with a capital of Rs.8000/- by three visionaries - Sri Upendra Ananth Pai, a businessman, Sri Vaman Kudva, an engineer and Dr. T M A Pai, a physician. The business started with a capital of Rs. 8000. The first branch of the bank started its operations in the year 1928 at Brahmavar in Dakshin Kannada District. By 1937, it had secured its membership as a clearing house at Mumbai. The primary objective of the business was to extend financial assistance to the local weavers who were crippled by a crisis in the handloom industry through mobilizing small savings from the community. The bank collected as low as 2 annas daily at the doorsteps of the depositors through its Agents under its Pigmy Deposit Scheme started in 1928. This scheme is the Bank's brand equity today and the Bank collects around Rs. 2 crore per day under the scheme. As time progressed, twenty banks merged with the Canara Industrial and Banking Syndicate Limited including the Maharashtra Apex Bank Limited and Southern India Apex Bank Limited. The name of the bank was changed to Syndicate Bank Limited in the year 1964 and the head office of the bank was shifted to Manipal. Syndicate Bank sponsored the first regional rural bank in India

by name Prathama Grameena Bank. The stocks of the Syndicate Bank are listed on Bombay Stock Exchange, National Stock Exchange, Mangalore Stock Exchange and Bangalore Stock Exchange. Syndicate bank made a partnership with UNEP to initiate a successful solar loan programme. It was a four-year $7.6 million effort, launched in April 2003 to help accelerate the market for financing solar home systems in southern India. Recently, Syndicate Bank has achieved a rare feat of opening one million customer accounts in a span of 3 months. Shri

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________________________________________________________________________ George Joseph took over as the CMD of the Bank on 2 August 2008. His term is to expire on 30 April 2009. The progress of Syndicate Bank has been synonymous with the phase of progressive banking in India. Spanning over 80 years of pioneering expertise, the Bank has created for itself a solid customer base comprising customers of two or three generations. Being firmly rooted in rural India and understanding the grass root realities, the Bank's perception had vision of future India. Its progress has been abreast of the phase of progressive banking in India. It has been propagating innovations in Banking and also has been receptive to new ideas, without however getting uprooted from its distinctive socio-economic and cultural ethos. Its philosophy of growth by mutual sustenance of both the Bank and the people has paid rich dividends. The Bank has been operating as a catalyst of development across the country with particular reference to the common man at the individual level and in rural/semi urban centers at the area level. Syndicate Bank today is placed in the league of large and leading public sector banks in India. The bank is a pioneer in introducing several initiatives such as agricultural financing and door-to-door banking, which are now recognized as benchmark by the industry. The bank offers wide gamut of services including deposits, corporate and retail loans, cash management, foreign trade services, cards, insurance. The Bank has also expanded its ATM network to 1000, spread

across 519 centers. The Bank is also a founder member of the CashTree consortium of 12 Banks with total number of ATMs under the network to over 4500. Bank has launched mobile phone banking facility too whereby, enquiries (pull services) through SMS on balance outstanding, change of primary account, term deposit details, cheque issued status, stop payment request, viewing last 5 transactions and alerts (push services) through SMS regarding credit/debit, balance and overdrafts are available to the customers at free of cost. The facility for online requests for credit is extended to educational loans, SME loans, loans
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________________________________________________________________________ to professional & self employed persons, loans for traders, farm loans, housing loans etc. The popularity of these banks can be gauged by the fact that in a short span of time, these banks have gained considerable customer confidence and consequently have shown impressive growth rates. The bank has made steady progress over the years and has had a consistent performance throughout. The bank has a large network of 2,125 branches in India with overseas presence in London and boasts of a workforce of over 26000 employees. In addition, it has been managing exchange companies in the Middle East to channelize remittance from expatriates to India. The Bank has rapidly expanded the ATM network considering the fact that ATMs have become the most acceptable delivery channels. As at the end of January 2009 the Bank has got a network of 1051 ATMs spread across 543 centres. The Bank is a member of VISA International, which extends the usage reach of our ATM/Debit Card holders to over 28700 ATMs in the country and over 1.2 million ATMs across the globe. The cardholders can also transact at Member Establishments (MEs) numbering over 3.5 lakhs in the country and over 2.84 crores across the globe. The Bank is one of the first banks to launch Centralised Banking Solution (CBS) and presently, all of its branches are in the CBS fold. The robust technological advancement made by the bank is aimed at providing banking service to all the

sections of the society besides using it as a management tool. The IT initiatives of the Bank have been amply recognized and rewarded both nationally and globally, which can be seen from the following awards won by the Bank during the past year. 1. Best use of IT for customer service in Semi-urban and Rural areas by IDRBT, Hyderabad.

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________________________________________________________________________ 2. Best Core Banking Project among Large Banks in Asia Pacific Region The Asian Banker IT Implementation Awards 3. The Asian banker IT implementation AWARD 08 for best core banking project for large banks The bank has been performing exceptionally well over the years. It is continually striving for the social and economic development of the country. Syndicate bank has won accolades for its service in rural communities and achieving exemplary customer service is an ongoing priority for the bank. The Banks thrust on priority and agriculture sector continued and the outstanding amount under priority Sector increased from Rs.18513 crore as on 31st March 2008 to Rs.21841 crore achieving a growth of 18.44%. The priority sector advances formed 46.60% of the Adjusted Net Bank Credit (ANBC) as against the mandatory 40%. The bank also fulfills its Corporate Social Responsibility well. As an indication of Banks social commitment towards water conservation and support to farming community in rural areas both towards drinking water and farming necessities, along with its sponsored Regional Rural Banks, the Bank completed cleaning of 601 ponds across the country during the year 2007-08.The bank is known for its customer friendly approach. The bank is committed to providing high quality customer service and timely redressal of customer grievance. However, competition is fierce, particularly from local private banks such as HDFC and

ICICI, in the business of home, car and consumer loans. Regarding agricultural banking, he said Reserve Bank of Indias monetary tightening policies will have no impact because the productive sectors should in no way be affected by liquidity tightening measures. Syndicate Bank is projecting a growth of 28 percent in agricultural lending mostly in plantation, rice, sugar cane, tobacco, warehouse receipts, minor irrigation schemes and through the traditional kisan credit cards. Syndicate Bank, despite the difficult macroeconomic

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________________________________________________________________________ situation in the country, is hopeful of a business growth of 18 percent in loans and deposits for 2008-09. The projected total income is Rs 1,90,000 crore from the present level of Rs 1,60,000 crore.

3.3

PRODUCT PROFILE

The Bank has been keeping a close watch on the market dynamics and introduction of new products and services are tailored and customized to suit the customers' requirements. During the year 2007-08, the Bank has launched innovative new products and services such as SyndSmallCredit (financial assistance to entrepreneurs of small means), SyndSona (sale of gold coins), SyndSuraksha (a unique Life Insurance cover for Savings Bank Account

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________________________________________________________________________ Holders), SyndFlexi Current account schemes, etc. The bank has launched various products since its inception to cater to its customers needs. These products are :

A. PARA BANKING ACTIVITIES : This activity includes the following : 1. Syndicate Bank Global Debit Card: A convenient e-wallet valid in
India and abroad with VISA Power. It brings the convenience of accessing money any time and from anywhere across the world. The customer can transact in any currency, but has to pay in Indian Rupees. The card is offered free of fee for all eligible accounts with any of Syndicat-e-banking (CBS) branches and select non-CBS branches of the Bank. Over 16,000 ATMs in India and over 10,00,000 (ten lakhs) ATMs across the globe with VISA logo would honour the card round the clock for cash withdrawal and balance enquiry. There is 24 hrs access to withdraw cash from all ATMs of Syndicate Bank and all ATMs displaying Cash Tree Logo in India. It enables shopping, dining and purchases at over 1,88,000 merchant establishments (MEs) in India and over 24 Million MEs across the globe displaying VISA logo. There is no admission fee and no annual fee presently. Moreover there is no transaction fee at all Syndicate Bank ATMs too.

FEATURES OF THE CARD: a. Global Debit Card is issued in association with VISA. b. Acceptance at following locations-

Table : 3 Features of Syndicate Bank Debit Card LOCATION LOGO

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PURPOSE

________________________________________________________________________ All ATMs of SyndicateBank For Cash Withdrawal, Balance Enquiry, Mini Statement & Change of PIN through over 350 Other Banks ATMs displaying VISA Logo Merchant Establishments Displaying VISA Logo All CashTree ATMs ATMs For Cash Withdrawal & Balance Enquiry through over 16,000 ATMs in India and over 10 lakh ATMs globally For purchases through over 1.88 lakh MEs in India and over 24 million MEs globally For Cash Withdrawal & Balance Enquiry ATMs through over 2,000

Table 4 : Details of the Debit Card

S No A B C Type of Transaction CARDS ISSUED BY NON-CBS BRANCHES Value in Indian Rupee or equivalent Foreign Currency Rs.100/Rs.100/(Rs. one hundred only) (Rs. one hundred only) Rs.10,000/Rs.5,000/(Rs. ten thousand only) (Rs. five thousand only) Rs.25,000/Rs.15,000/(Rupees twenty five (Rupees fifteen thousand only) thousand only) No restriction Rs.10,000/(Rs ten thousand only) No restriction Rs.5,000/(Rs five thousand only) CARDS ISSUED BY CBS BRANCHES

D E

Minimum Value of any transaction at ATM or POS Maximum Value per transaction at ATM or POS Maximum Value of on-line transactions per day at ATM or POS or both put together Number of transactions permitted per day Maximum permissible value of off-line transaction

2. Syndicate Bank Global Credit Cards: It is a photo / signature card

that provides additional security and recognition to the user. It gives the

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________________________________________________________________________ power for making payment with the card at all the Merchant Establishments (MEs) in India and abroad where VISA cards are accepted. The customers have the access to withdraw cash at all ATMs of Syndicate Bank and at all ATMs displaying cash tree logo in India round the clock. The minimum income requirement for issue of credit card is Rs. 60000/- p.a. The free credit period is of minimum 20 days and maximum 50 days. There is cash withdrawal facility (15% for classic cards & 25% for gold cards) through Syndicate Bank ATMs at concessional charges. There are also reward points of one point for every Rs. 200 spend with the card. There is revolving credit facility with minimum payment of 10% of total payment due with these cards. Cardholders lost card liability is limited to Rs.1,000/- after notifying loss to Bank. Cards are issued for three years but renewal fee is levied every year in advance in the anniversary month of issue, wherever applicable. Cards are being issued through all the branches of Syndicate Bank across the country. There are two types of cards :

a. Cards are issued in two variants (Classic Card & Gold Card) with
Photo & Signature of the Cardholder.

b. Add-ons to immediate family members, who are not minor.

The features of these cards are : a. Global Credit Card is issued in association with VISA. b. Acceptance at following locations-

Table 5 : Purpose and locations of credit cards

Purpose Cash Withdrawal Purchases Others Locations All ATMs of Syndicate Bank (over 1040), ATMs under CashTree network (over 4400) and ATMs displaying VISA logo (over 28,000 in India & over 12 Lakh across the Globe) All Merchant Establishments accepting VISA Cards (over 3.50 Lakhs in India & over 28 million across the Globe) Internet, Mail Orders & Telemarketing

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________________________________________________________________________

B. BANCASSURANCE: The bank can be used as a one stop financial shop

to enhance customer satisfaction is distributing Life and Non Life Insurance products. The commission earned under life and non-life insurance business was Rs.23 crore and Rs.3.71 crore respectively. It includes :

1. Life Insurance Products: The bank has tied up with M/s. Bajaj
Allianz Life Insurance Co. Ltd., for distribution of their life insurance products. It offers a range of products as follows, at competitive premium - saving life cover, risk cover loan, cover long term investment.

2. Non Life Insurance: To consolidate the business under

Bancassurance Scheme and to provide additional products to the customers, the Bank has entered into distribution of Non-Life Insurance Products by tying up with M/s. United India Insurance Co. Ltd. Bank has obtained IRDA licence to act as Corporate Insurance Agent of United India Insurance Co. Ltd. A package policy is devised covering the asset against fire and allied perils covering lightning, explosion / implosion, aircraft damage, etc. riot, strike, malicious and terrorism damages are covered at extra premium. The person against death or injury arising out of accident. Any branch of the Bank may be approached for Bancassurance. Some of its life-insurance products in association with Bajaj Allianz are : a. INVESTGAIN b. CASHGAIN c. CHILDGAIN d. RISKCARE e. TERMCARE f. LIFETIMECARE g. SWARNA-VISHRANTI
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________________________________________________________________________ h. UNITGAIN i. LOAN PROTECTOR j. SYNDDRIVER

3. Cash Management (SCMS): It uses contemporary technology

and has a network coverage of 1400 locations covering length & breadth of the country. The Bank offers two key products: E-Collect (Management of Receivables) and E-Pay (Management of Payables). Value additions like walk-in deposits of cheques/cash, cheques/cash pick ups, post Dated Cheques, Direct Debit and Drop Boxes are available in e-collect. Value additions dike debit sweep zero balance account, direct credit, cash payment (subject to RBI guidelines), at par cheque drawing, bulk DD are also available in EPay. State of the Art technology sits on 2000strong branch network to move cash and information for the customer, offering him the utmost convenience through anywhere, anytime, phone banking apart from meeting Cash Management requirements. A customer need not be an account holder to avail the facility.

C. DEPOSIT SCHEMES : 1. Synd 400 Plus and Synd 500 Plus: Individuals / Firms /
Companies / Trust etc., who are eligible to open an account with the Bank are eligible to avail this scheme by depositing Rs.1,000/- in a single deposit account.

2. Savings Deposit Account : It is an account with easy liquidity.

Withdrawal can be done through withdrawal slips/cheques/ATM Cards. Students can operate the A/c. Interest is given on minimum balance between 10th & last day of month. Minimum average monthly balance

Page 33

________________________________________________________________________ of Rs.10,000/- should be maintained. In this account, balance in excess of Rs.10,000/- gets swept out into fixed deposit for 180 days in units of Rs.1000/- and when there is need for funds in Savings Account, the fixed deposit is broken prematurely without any penalty in units of Rs.1000/- and swept into the savings account to the extent of meeting the need.

3. Special Premium Savings Accounts (CBS branches only): It

gives high earnings with easy liquidity. Minimum average monthly balance of Rs.20,000/- should be maintained in this account. Balance in excess of Rs.20,000/- gets swept out into fixed deposit in units of Rs.1000/- for 1 yr. 1 day. As and when there is need for funds in Savings Account, the fixed deposit is broken prematurely without any penalty in units of Rs.1000/- and swept into the savings account to the extent of meeting the need.

4. Fixed Deposit Scheme: It is a regular interest earning scheme.

Period of Deposit is 15 days to 120 months (minimum period is 7 days for deposits of Rs.25.00 lakhs & above).Minimum Deposit of Rs.1000/should be maintained.

5. Vikas Cash Certificate: It is a money multiplier scheme. Minimum

amount of Deposit Rs.100/- and in multiples of Rs.100/- should be maintained. It is for a period of deposit is 6 months to 120 months. Interest is compounded every quarter.

6. Social Security Deposit : : It is an ideal monthly / quarterly income

plan. Minimum deposit of Rs.1000/- and in multiples of Rs.100/- should be maintained. It is for a period of 1 year to 10 years in completed quarters. Monthly interest at discounted value or interest accruing at the end of quarter will be paid.

Page 34

________________________________________________________________________

7. Senior Citizens Security Deposit : It is a scheme with higher

income for senior citizens(above the age of 60 years).The amount of deposit is Rs.1000/- and in multiples of Rs.1000/-.It is for a Period of 12 months to 120 months. The rate of interest is 1% + normal applicable rate to term deposits. Incentives No penalty for premature closure. At par remittance facility upto Rs.5000/- per month or upto interest earned on his deposit whichever is higher.

8. Syndicate Suvidha Deposit: : It gives Fixed Deposit with partial

withdrawals. Amount of deposit is Rs.10,000/- and above in multiples of Rs.1000/-.The period of deposit is 15 days to 120 months. Rate of interest As applicable to term deposits. Interest Simple interest at quarterly intervals. Partial withdrawal in multiples of Rs.1000/- allowed. There is no restriction on the frequency of withdrawals. Moreover, no penalty will be charged in case of partial withdrawals.

9. Cumulative SyndTaxShield Deposit Scheme : It is an ideal

scheme for monthly savings. Uniform monthly installments of minimum Rs.100/- and thereafter in multiples of Rs.10/-.Period of deposit is 12 months to 120 months. No penalty if installment is delayed but paid during same calendar month. Nominal penalty if installment delayed beyond calendar month. Penalty may be set off against payment of equal number of advance installments. TDS on interest not applicable

10.Pigmy Deposit : It is a daily savings scheme at the customers

doorsteps. Minimum amount of deposit is Re. 5/-.The amount may be deposited daily/weekly/monthly. Period of Deposit is 63 months. Premature withdrawal permitted with certain conditions. Authorised Agent i.e. Pigmy Agent collects money for deposit into Pigmy Deposit A/c at your doorsteps. TDS on interest not applicable.

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________________________________________________________________________

11.Super Premium Savings Bank Account: : It cultivates savings to

Personal Accident Cover with added advantages. It is suitable for customers, habitual of maintaining high average balance in SB accounts, young executives and professionals from higher income group. All SB account holders whose SB account has a monthly minimum average balance of Rs.1.00 lakh are eligible for it. There is issue of Credit Cards free of costs at entry level Priority allotment of Lockers based on availability. There is Sweep in-Sweep out facility at all CBS branches.

12.Synd Samanya Savings Bank Account (No Frills Account : All

Individual/s are eligible for it. Minimum Balance is nil. It is a zerobalance account. Rate of Interest is 3.5% (at present). Cheque book will be made available if balance is maintained as per the existing SB account norms. Service charge of Rs.10/- per transaction shall be levied if the customer exceeds the stipulated number of transactions in his account. The number of cash withdrawals are 50 per year at branch counter while there is no restrictions for ATM transactions.

13.SyndFlexi Current Account: It combines the liquidity of Current

Account with the earning capacity of Term Deposits. The account is available at CBS Branches and provides for Sweep-out Sweep-in Facility. Amounts in excess of the prescribed threshold amount of Rs. 1.00 lakh is automatically swept out to Term Deposit and funds from the Term Deposit is Swept in to the Flexi Current Account as and when there is a shortfall in the balance in the account. The tenure of this account is between 15 to 45 days as the customer may specify (one time option).

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________________________________________________________________________

14.Synd Corporate Suvidha Deposit Scheme: It is a Term Deposit

for larger depositors with partial withdrawals. Minimum deposit amount will be Rs.5.00 crores and in multiples of Rs.1.00 crore. Premature withdrawal of partial deposit in multiples of Rs.1.00 crore is allowed, without charging penal interest with minimum notice period of one day. A minimum balance of Rs.5.00 crores should be retained after such partial withdrawal. Period of deposit is 7 days to180 days.

15.SyndTaxShield Deposit Scheme : Individuals / HUF eligible to

open an account with the Bank are eligible for this scheme. Minimum Deposit is of Rs. 100/- and multiples of thereof and maximum Deposits of Rs. 1,00,000/- per person per annum. It should be taken for a minimum of 5 Years. No premature withdrawal facility is available upto 5 years from the date of deposit. Deposits Account may be opened under Single / Joint holder type of Accounts. Term Deposits under this scheme are not eligible for pledge to secure loan or as security to any other asset. Interest Income from these term deposits shall be liable to tax under the IT Act.

16.Exchange Earners Foreign Currency A/c Current A/c:

EEFC current a/c can be opened by any exporters and recipients of inward remittance in any convertible currency. EEFC may be maintained in USD, GBP, EURO, AUD and CAD. The minimum balance to be maintained in CA is USD1000/- GBP 500/- and EURO 1000/-These accounts may be maintained at the designated branches. We are having 93 designated branches all over India. Exporters and others if they want to retain export earnings in EEFC a/c, they can do so upto 100%.Funds held in the a/cs can also be freely converted in to Indian Rupees. No credit facilities, fund based as well as non fund based, are permitted against the security of balances held in EEFC accounts.

Page 37

________________________________________________________________________ Table 6 : Rates of Interest for Deposit Account

NATURE RATE OF INTEREST NORMAL SENIOR CITIZEN Rural MINIMUM BALANCE Semi Urban Urban

ACCOUNT
1. Savings Bank A/c A. Domestic a. With cheque book facility b. Without cheque book facility c. No Frills Account With cheque book facility Without cheque book facility B. Non Resident a. NRO b. NRE

3.5% 3.5%

3.5% 3.5%

Rs.500/Rs.100/-

Rs.500/Rs.100/-

Rs.1000/Rs. 500/-

3.5%

3.5%

Rs.500/-

Rs.500/-

Rs.500/-

3.5% 3.5% 3.5%

3.5% 3.5 3.5%

Nil Rs.500/Rs.500/-

Nil Rs.500/Rs.500/-

Nil Rs.1000/Rs.1000/-

2. Term Deposits A. Domestic Term Deposits (All Maturities) 7 days & upto 14 days (applicable for deposits of Rs. 25 lakhs & above) 15 days to 29 days 30 days to 45 days 46 days to 60 days 61 days to 90 days 91 days to 120 days 121 days to 179 days 180 days to 270 days 271 days to < 1 year 1 year to 499 days 500 days exact 501 days to < 2 years 2 years to < 3 yrs 3 years to < 5 yrs 5 years & above 2. Term Deposits B. Domestic Term Deposits (All Maturities)

For Deposits less than Rs. 1.00 crore Rate of Interest w.e.f. 16.02.2009 3.25 3.75 4.25 5.00 5.25 6.00 6.50 7.25 7.50 8.00 8.25 8.00 8.00 8.00 7.75 For BULK Deposits of Rs. 1.00 Crore and above Rate of Interest w.e.f. 12.01.2009

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________________________________________________________________________
7 days & upto 14 days 15 days & upto 29 days 30 days & upto 45 days 46 days to 90 days 91 days to 179 days 180 days to 269 days 270 days to 364 days 1 year and above 3.75 4.25 4.25 6.00 6.25 6.75 7.25 7.50

a. NRO (All Maturities) b. NRE w.e.f 01.04.2009

1 yr. & above but less than 2 years

3.72

2 yrs & above but less than 3 years

3.15

3 yrs and above upto 5 years

3.45

Rate of Interest w.e.f. 01.04.2009

1 year & above but < 2 years c. FCNR(B) i) USD ii) GBP (1 yr 1day) iii) EUR (1 yr 1day)

2 years & above but < 3 years

3 years & above but < 4 years

4 years & above but < 5 years

For 5 years (Maximum)

2.97 3.07

2.40

2.70

2.99

3.23

2.83

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________________________________________________________________________
iv) CAD (1 yr 1day) v) AUD (1 yr 1day)

2. 98 4.9 2

4. SYND BANK SERVICES (BPO): It is a wholly owned

subsidiary of Syndicate Bank. This is a first BPO outfit of a Nationalized Bank. This BPO Company is proposed to undertake the following activities facilitating customers to file their income tax returns, undertaking Back Office functions relating to Bank's debit / credit card / bancassurance business etc.

5. LOAN PRODUCTS : 1. SyndRent : Its purpose is to meet urgent personal expenses/credit

needs. Bonafide owners of residential / commercial property are eligible for it. The quantum is 75% of the rental value. The repayment period should not exceed 60 months. Third party guarantee acceptable to the bank. Its requirements are Mortgage of property, Lease agreement, Consent from the lessee (tenant).

2. SyndSaral: Its Purpose is to meet urgent personal credit requirements.

Permanent employees of Central / State Government Offices / Undertakings / reputed companies / firms / educational institutions. Nonsalaried class like Doctors / Engineers / Lawyers / Chartered Accountants / Architects / Consultants and Pensioners are eligible for it. The repayment criteria is maximum 60 months in case of loans and overdraft against Govt. securities. to be renewed once in 2 years. Its requirements are Salary Certificate / letter of undertaking from the employer, ITAO for nonsalaried class / property documents where ITAO is not available, Third party guarantee acceptable to the bank, valid mortgage of immovable property/ pledge of securities, Post dated cheques in exceptional cases.

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________________________________________________________________________

3. SyndSenior: An exclusive personal loan scheme for pensioners. It can

be used for any bonafide personal / business credit requirement. Pensioners in receipt of regular monthly pension from Central / State Governments / Public Sector Units / Defence Establishments and other government or quasi government institutions whose pensions are being routed through accounts held with it. Surety need not be insisted for loans upto 6 months gross monthly pension or Rs.50000/- whichever is lower, in all other cases the surety of a family member or that of a third party shall be obtained. The surety should have adequate means / income.

4. SyndVidyarthi: A Standby Overdraft facility for students of professional

courses. To meet the recurring expenses of contingent nature that may have to be incurred by students pursuing professional courses. The eligibility criteria includes Students of 18 years and above of age pursuing professional courses. All professional and management courses listed in our educational loan scheme would be eligible for coverage. Coverage under this scheme can be provided to all eligible students irrespective of whether or not they have availed an Education Loan from our Bank / other banks. The quantum should Not exceed Rs.10000/-.Overdraft subject to renewal every year.

5. SyndNivas:

Housing

Loan

Scheme.

It

is

given

for

construction/acquisition of a house/flat or for acquiring a site and building a house thereon, For acquiring a new house or existing house not more than 25 years old, For making extensions/additions to existing house. For NRIs, loan available for acquisition of house for self-occupation on return to India, For acquisition of furniture/fixtures including air conditioners, geysers, fridge, cots, tables, sofas etc which form part of improvements to the home purchased or constructed out of the Housing Loan. The margin is 25% of total project cost for construction/purchase of new flat or house upto 5 years old, 30% for acquiring house which is above 5 years old,30% of the estimated cost of addition/extension/repairs/renovation. The security is First mortgage of the site/house/flat to be constructed/acquired or as advised by the Legal Adviser/Law Officer of the Bank, Hypothecation of
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________________________________________________________________________ furniture & fixtures. The processing charges are Rs.500/- per lac with a minimum of Rs.1000/- at present. (Processing charges are subject to change from time to time).

6. SyndNivasPlus: Its purpose is to meet any genuine personal or

business credit requirement. Housing Loan customers who have demonstrated a satisfactory repayment record of 2 years or more are eligible for it. The loan shall be offered on a pre-approved basis to all eligible customers. This pre approved offer shall be valid for a period of 3 months from the date of communication of the sanction. If a customer approaches after the lapse of 3 months his request may be considered under the scheme after a fresh assessment of the eligible quantum and fulfillment of all applicable norms. The security is the extension of charge for the loan value on the mortgage of the residential property created already towards Housing Loan.

7. SyndPigmy: It purpose is to meet any contingent requirement of pigmy

depositors. Pigmy depositors with regular contribution for 24 months are eligible for it. The quantum is 3 times pigmy deposit balance with maximum Rs. 50000/-. Repayment is 35 months for loans and overdrafts renewable on yearly basis. Rate of interest is 12.50% p.a. (fixed). The pigmy deposit forms the security with a Margin of 25%.It requires third party guarantee for the amount beyond pigmy balance. Contributions to Pigmy Deposit should be continued.

8. SyndKisan: Its purpose to meet urgent personal needs / purchase

consumer durables like TV, Fridge, Washing Machine, Audio / Video Equipment etc. Agriculturists are eligible for it. The quantum is 50% of average gross annual income or Rs. 1 lakh whichever is less for clean loans. 80% of the consumer durable or 50% of annual income or 0.50 lakh whichever is less. The repayment period should not exceed 3 years. The requirements proof of income and third party guarantee acceptance.

9. SyndVahan: Its purpose to help customers buy new / second hand 4wheeler or new 2-wheeler.Persons having minimum annual income of Rs. 1 lakh for 4 wheeler and Rs.50000/- for 2 wheeler are eligible for it. The
Page 42

________________________________________________________________________ repayment period is 72 / 48 months for new/old 4 wheelers and 60 months for new 2 wheelers. The requirements are salary certificate, ITAO for nonsalaried class/property documents where ITAO is not available, Performa invoice. Third party guarantee acceptable to the bank.

10.SyndLaghuUdyami: It is a credit card scheme to meet credit

requirement of small/medium entrepreneurs, traders, small business, selfemployers/ professionals. Existing customers who satisfy certain criteria are eligible for it. The quantum of loan is maximum of Rs.5 lac (upto Rs.10 lacs for customers with good track record).The margin is 15% to 40%, depending upon the security. Suitable third party guarantee acceptable to the Bank.

11.

SyndMahila: The following are eligible for it all working or non-

working women with an identified source of income or savings, age between 20 to 50 years, for employed women, salary to be routed through a/c with the bank or letter of undertaking from employer for deduction of EMI, housewives demonstrating regularity in savings for a period of 6 months. The eligible amount under this scheme is minimum Rs.10,000/Maximum Rs.1,50,000,10 times the gross monthly salary for employed women,10 times average monthly balance in Savings Bank during the last 6 months. Any member of the family with adequate income / net worth or an acceptable third party can be taken as security. For any tangible asset like gold or consumer durable, 85% of the invoice value will be the loan component. The repayment should not exceed 84 months with a maximum of 84 equated Monthly installments.

12.SyndMortgage: Bonafide owners of residential/commercial property are

eligible for it. It helps to purchase house plot approved by Housing Boards/Development Authority of Town/City or Metro and other genuine credit requirements. The quantum is 60 months gross salary (clubbing of income from other sources/income of close relatives permitted for computing the quantum of eligible loan amount) or 5 times of annual agricultural income subject to maximum of Rs.50 lacs (Rs.25 lacs as ODMS or Rs.50 lacs as loan).Loan quantum is to be decided as per
Page 43

________________________________________________________________________ repayment capacity. For non-agriculturists/ non-salaried ,the quantum is five times of annual income on the basis of ITAO/ average of last 3 years income as per ITAO ( for loans upto Rs.5 lac, ITAO will not be insisted upon.).The repayment period is 7 years. Suitable third party guarantee acceptable to the Bank.

SyndPravasi: It is a personal baking scheme for granting rupee loans to NRIs.

NRIs who are having operative NRE/ FCNR / NRO accounts wit the branch at least for a period of 1 year and are regularly sending inward remittances. It helps to purchase vehicles, consumer durables like TV, Fridge, Washing Machine, Audio / Video equipment, computer including printer, software, furniture, other homeapliances to meet any genuine personal credit requirements. The repayment period should not exceed 24 EMIs for loans against security of Jewels / Gold,60 EMIs in case of vehicle loans,35 EMIs in respect of all other loans. Good third party acceptable to the bank. Spouse having independent income or sufficient net worth can also be taken as guarantor. For jewel loans against security of gold guarantee may be waived.

13.SyndSmallCredit: A new Scheme for providing financial assistance to

entrepreneurs of small means contributing to Pigmy 1928 and to Pigmy Plus 2007. The scheme aims at entrepreneurs of small means such as manufacturers, retail traders, professional & self-employed persons, artisans and those engaged in making handicrafts, village / cottage industries & other non-farm income generating activities. This facility available at all our branches where Pigmy scheme is in operation, in clusters of not less than 20 accounts in an area .It does not require any collateral security, only hypothecation of assets created out of bank loan, lien on Pigmy Plus 2007 account and a credit worthy third party guarantee is needed. It involves easy repayment at the convenience of the borrowers. The repayment is linked to day to-day contributions towards Pigmy account, at the doorsteps of the customer. Contributions towards pigmy can be at the convenience of the customer, it is not fixed. Repayment period is spread over 60 months, with the first 3 months being

Page 44

________________________________________________________________________ the repayment holiday. The rate of interest is at PLR-0.50% i.e. presently 12.5% p.a. 1.0% rebate in interest for prompt repayment to be provided at the closure of the account. The Bank collects nominal out of pocket expenses @ 3% of amount set for transferring from Pigmy to the loan account, which includes payment of 2% commission to pigmy agents.

SyndSuvidha: It can be used for purchase of any consumer durable

including computers. Salaried / Non-salaried class persons are eligible for it. The repayment should not be more than 60 equated monthly installments. The rate of interest is (compounded monthly) PLR + 2% p.a. Suitable third party guarantee acceptable to the Bank.

14.SyndUdyog: This scheme is for financing small and medium

entrepreneurs. Target group is manufacturing Units, trading units & service entities. The following is the eligibility criteria: credit requirement of the applicant party/unit shall not be more than Rs.50 lac, the annual sales/revenue turnover of the applicant party / unit shall not be more than Rs.250 lacs.

15.SyndVyapar: It helps to meet the credit needs of traders, service

providers & professionals/self-employed. All Traders, Service providers & Self-employed are eligible for it. The quantum is maximum Rs. 200 lakhs in the form of overdraft or Term Loan. This scheme is to be renewed once in 2 years (or) repayable in maximum 60 months in case of Term Loan. Rate of interest w.e.f. 16.05.2006: 11% to 11.5% depending on collateral security coverage. The security is mortgage of property/Pledge of NSC/KVP/LIC/RBI Relief bond and hypothecation of stock in trade. The requirements for this scheme is financial statements for limits of over Rs. 10 lakhs.

16.SyndJaiKisan: : It is a hassle free multipurpose, composite, long term

farm credit scheme for agriculturists. It simplifies the system of credit

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________________________________________________________________________ delivery to the farmers, taking a holistic view on their credit requirement covering entire gamut of expenditure related to investments on Agriculture, Contingencies, Consumption and other pressing social obligations. To be repaid within a maximum period of 7 years based on expected time of harvesting/ marketing of farm produce. Repayment holiday upto 18 months based on the requirements to be decided on case-to-case basis. Mortgage/charge creation on agricultural lands having clear title can be given. During the pendancy of an existing loan under the scheme, no fresh loans under this scheme shall be sanctioned and all the existing liabilities shall be regular. If the borrower is agreeable, he may be covered under Personal Accident Insurance Scheme by collecting the required insurance premium.

17.SyndShakti: Artisan friendly scheme for extending need based credit for
purchase of power tools. It aims at providing credit for purchase of power toolkits and need-based working capital to the artisans, enabling them to upgrade the level of technology and improve their work efficiency. Apart from need based credit from the Bank, the prospective borrowers under the scheme will get the additional benefits offered by M/s MICO BOSCH, such as extended warranty & servicing, free training in using the power tool kits, special reduced prices for toolkits etc. The following category of Self-employed persons in the operational area of the branches are eligible for facility under the scheme: those engaged in the field of carpentry & wood works, servicing & repair of automobiles, servicing & repair of electrical equipment, sanitary & plumbing works.

Table 7 : RATE OF INTEREST ON ADVANCES (Prime Lending Rate (PLR) w.e.f. 17.01.2009 12.50% ) STANDARD TABLE SHOWING FLOATING INTEREST RATES (MONTHLY COMPOUNDING) ON ADVANCES (OTHER THAN EXPORT CREDIT) I. Agriculture
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________________________________________________________________________

(i) Combined harvester, two, three, four wheeler, Tractor loans released on or after 1.11.2003 : Size of the credit limit Upto Rs.50000/Above Rs.50000/- and upto Rs.2.50 lakhs Above Rs.2.50 lakhs PLR minus 1.00% Interest Rate PLR minus 2.50% PLR minus 2.00%

Note: For loans released before 1.11.2003, interest rate as per 1(iii) below shall be charged

(ii) Advances to Farmers Service Co-operative Societies : Size of the credit limit Upto Rs.50000/Above Rs.50000/- upto Rs.2 lakhs Above Rs.2 lakhs Interest Rate PLR minus 4.00% PLR minus 2.50% PLR minus 1.50%

(iii) All other agriculture advances: Size of the credit limit Interest Rate Upto Rs.50000/PLR minus 2.50% Above Rs.50000/- upto Rs.2 lakhs PLR minus 1.00% Above Rs.2 lacs Spread to be added to PLR Credit Rating of CR CR CR CR CR5 CR6 Borrower a. Term loans b. Short TL / Working Capital 1 NA NA 2 NA NA 3 4 0.00 1.00 1.50 0.00 1.25 2.00 1.75 2.00

NPA 2.00 2.00

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________________________________________________________________________ NA- Not applicable since as per Simple method, there is no provision for CR-1 and CR-2 rating to agricultural advances. However, wherever scoring model is used, interest rate for CR 01 & CR 02 will be as applicable to CR 03.

II.

Micro / Small Enterprises: (Working Capital/Short term advances/term loans) Small Enterprises (Mfg.Sector) Service PLR -3.00 PLR 1.50 PLR -1.50 PLR 1.50

Size of Credit limit

Micro Enterprises (Mfg.Sector) Service Upto Rs.50000/PLR -3.50 PLR - 2.00 Above Rs.50000/- up to PLR -2.00 PLR -2.00 Rs.2.00 lakhs Above Rs.2.00 lakhs: A) MICRO CR01 PLR-1 CR02 PLR -0.75 CR03 ENTERPRISES Credit Rating of Borrower Above Rs.2 lacs

CR04 PLR

CR05 PLR+0.5 0

CR0 6 PLR +1.0 0

PLR -0.50

B)

SMALL CR01 PLR0.50 CR02 PLR -0.25 CR03 PLR CR04 PLR+ 0.50 CR05 PLR 1.00 CR06 + PLR +1.50

ENTERPRISES Credit Rating of Borrower Above Rs.2 lacs

III. Medium Enterprises: (Working Capital/Short term advances/term loans) Size of the credit limit Upto Rs.2 Lakhs Credit Rating of Borrower CR 1 Interest Rate PLR 0.50 Spread to be added to PLR CR CR CR4 CR CR6 2 3 5

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________________________________________________________________________ Above Rs.2 lacs 0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50

IV. Finance granted to intermediary agencies for on lending to ultimate beneficiaries and agencies providing input support : (As per Cir. No. 230-2000-BC dated 20.12.2000) Interest Rate Housing Intermediaries i) Advances granted on or before 02.05.1999 (unless otherwise advised to charge any particular PLR minus 0.50%

interest rate in specific cases) ii) Advances granted on or after 03.05.1999 and upto PLR minus 0.01% 09.11.2000 iii) Advances granted on or after 10.11.2000 Spread to be added to PLR Credit Rating of the CR CR CR3 CR4 CR5 CR6 Borrower 1 2 Working Capital/Short term 0.00 1.00 1.50 advance/term loans (b) Other intermediary agencies (i) advances granted upto 9.11.2000 PLR minus1.50% (ii) advances granted on or after 10.11.2000 Spread to be added to PLR Credit Rating of the CR CR CR3 CR4 CR5 CR6 NP Borrower 1 2 Working Capital/Short term 0.00 1.00 1.50 advances/term loans V. Advances against third party deposits VI. Inland Bills upto 180 days of less than Rs. 50.00 lacs PLR PLR 2.00 2.50 3.00 A 3.00 2.00 2.50 3.00

NP A 3.00

backed by LCs of Scheduled Banks

VII. LC paid/ BG paid/ DPG installment paid (inclusive of overdue interest of 2.00%)

PLR+5.00%

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________________________________________________________________________ VIII. For delayed period of remittance received in respect of bills under IDBI/SIDBI Bill Re discounting Scheme (including overdue PLR+5.00% interest of 2.00%)) IX. Housing Loan Scheme under Floating Interest option (SyndNivas, Farm House Loans & Golden Jubilee Rural Housing Finance) For Loan Amount upto Rs. 20 lakhs a. Repayment period upto 5 years b. Repayment period above 5 years and upto 10 years c .Repayment period above 10 years and upto 20 years d. Repayment period above 20 years and upto 25 years For Loan Amount above Rs. 20 lakhs and upto Rs.30 lakhs a. Repayment period upto 5 years b. Repayment period above 5 years and upto 10 years c .Repayment period above 10 years and upto 20 years d. Repayment period above 20 years and upto 25 years For Loan Amount above Rs. 30 lakhs a. Repayment period upto 5 years b. Repayment period above 5 years and upto 10 years c .Repayment period above 10 years and upto 20 years d. Repayment period above 20 years and upto 25 years X. SyndNivas Fixed XI. SyndNivas Plus Interest Rate PLR minus 4.00% PLR minus 3.50% PLR minus 3.25% PLR minus 3.00% Interest Rate PLR minus 3.25% PLR minus 2.75% PLR minus 2.50% PLR minus 2.25% Interest Rate PLR minus 2.75% PLR minus 2.25% PLR minus 2.00% PLR minus 1.75% - 12% upto 5 years - 13% above 5 to 10 years - PLR XII. New Housing Loan Scheme:w.e.f.15.12.2008: (Not linked to PLR) For Loans up to Rs.5.00 lakhs : 8.50%

For Loans above Rs.5.00 lakhs to Rs.20.00 lakhs: 9.25%

XIII. SyndVidya (Education Loans)

Page 50

________________________________________________________________________ Upto Rs. 7.50 lacs Above Rs. 7.50 lacs XIV. SyndVidyarthi XV. SyndSwarna A) Jewel Loans/OD i) Upto Rs.50,000/ii) Rs.50,000/- to Rs.3 lacs Interest Rate PLR minus 3.00% PLR minus 1.00% PLR minus 2.00% PLR minus 2.50% - PLR

- For Agriculture/SSI

- For Others PLR iii) Above Rs.3 lakhs (applicable for CR 02) For Agriculture/SSI For Others B) Jewel Loans/OD (Others) XVI. SyndSwarna Express XVII. Personal Banking Scheme Loans (a) For salaried class (clean) (i) if salary is credited at the Branch Loans / Overdraft Loans / Overdraft (b) For non-salaried class - Secured PLR+1.25% - Unsecured PLR+1.25% (c) Loans against NSC, KVP, IVP,SV of LIC policy, RBI Relief bonds Loans PLR Overdrafts PLR (d) For purchase of Vehicles PLR+1.25% PLR+0.25% PLR+2.00% - PLR + 1.00% PLR PLR+1.00%

(i) other salaried class

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________________________________________________________________________ Two and Four Wheelers Loans PLR

(e) For purchase of consumer durables Loans (if Salary is credited at the Branch) Loans (for other salaried class) Loans ( for non-salaried class) (f) For Agriculturists Secured Unsecured (g) Loans to Pigmy Agents Demand Loan Two Vehicle wheeler Four Loan wheeler XVIII. Synd Mahila XIX. SyndMortgage Against Residential property Against Commercial property XX. SyndSenior XXI. SyndPigmy XXII. SyndVyapar Improved scheme XXIII. Synd Rent (irrespective of size of advance) ---

PLR + 0.25% PLR + 1.25% PLR + 1.25%

PLR + 2 .00% PLR + 3 .00% PLR + 2.00% PLR PLR + 2.00%

PLR

PLR + 2.50% PLR + 2.50% PLR

- PLR (floating) - PLR PLR + 2.00% PLR + 3.00%

XXIV. All other Non-Priority Sector personal loans/advances -

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________________________________________________________________________ XXV. All Others not covered under 1 to 23 above (Like Medium and Large Industry, Whole sale/Retail Trade/ Business, Professional & Self Employed, NBFCs, Other Real Estate ) (Working Capital/Short term advances/term loans) Up to Rs.2.00 lacs Credit Rating of the Borrower Above Rs.2 lakhs CR1 0.50 PLR Spread to be added to PLR CR2 CR3 CR4 CR5 CR6 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00

NP A 3.00

6. AGRICULTURAL LOAN PRODUCTS :

1. Animal Husbandry Scheme : Under the scheme, the activity can be taken-up as a whole time as well as subsidiary occupation. Support available for the establishment of mini as well as Commercial Dairy Units. Eligible purposes include Purchase of quality Animals, feeds, Equipments and machinery such as Deep freezers etc. 2. Development of Irrigation Infrastructure: Medium to long term loans with repayments upto 15 years. Construction of Open Wells, Borewells, Tubewells, Check dams, Irrigation Tanks and Pump sheds, Repair of Existing Wells Laying out Pipeline, Sprinkler and Drip Irrigation system, Lift Irrigation cost. 3. Farm Mechanization Schemes : Medium to long term loans are extended to farmers for Purchase of Tractors, Power Tillers and Small H.P, Tractors, Combine Harvesters, Threshers and Sugarcane Crushers, Sprayers, Dusters and other equipments. projects. It is repayable in convenient Quarterly/Half Yearly/Yearly installments. Loan amount is linked with approved project

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________________________________________________________________________ 4. Hi-tech Agriculture: Medium to long term loans are extended for Tissue Culture and establishment of Green Houses, Mushroom Production and Processing, Production of Fruits, Vegetables and Cut flowers, Export of Horticultural Products, Traditional and non-traditional Plantations, Aquaculture, Agro-processing Industries, Aromatic and Medicinal Plants, Cold Storage units. 5. SyndJaiKisan: To simplify the system of credit delivery to the farmers, taking a holistic view on their credit requirement covering entire gamut of expenditure related to investments on Agriculture, Contingencies, Consumption and other pressing social obligations, the Bank has introduced a hassle free farmer friendly credit scheme called SyndJaiKisan. All existing farm loan customers from the operational area of the Bank, with satisfactory past track record for a period of 2 years and owning irrigated lands and cultivating at least two crops annually or cash crops or plantation crops. Farmers cultivating single crop with assured irrigation are also eligible. Purposes covered under the scheme: Farm related activities, Contingencies, Redemption of high cost private debt, Consumption purposes. It is to be repaid within a maximum period of 7 years based on expected time of harvesting/ marketing of farm produce. Repayment holiday upto 18 months based on the requirements to be decided on case-to-case basis is available. 6. Jewel

Loans for Agriculture: Bank provides jewel loans to

agriculturists for their agricultural credit needs on easy terms and at low cost. Lending at Rs. 650/- per gram on 22 carat gold or 75% of market value of the jewel (80% for Hall Marked jewels) whichever is lower for jewel loans with a repayment period upto 12 months. Lending at Rs. 600/per gram on 22 carat gold or 65% of market value of the jewel (70% for Hall Marked jewels) whichever is lower for jewel loans with a repayment period exceeding 12 months and upto 24 months. Lowest interest rate at 7% per annum for loans upto Rs. 3.00 lac availed for crop production purposes (Kharif 2006 & Rabi 2006-07) and at 8.5% (PLR-3.00) for loans upto Rs. 50,000 for other agricultural purposes against pledge of jewels.
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________________________________________________________________________ Service charges exempted for loans upto Rs. 25,000.Loans issued on all working days. 7. Land Development Schemes : This scheme can be used for increasing productivity. It supports activities such as Contour Bunding and Terracing,Land reclamation and to treat Acid and Alkaline soils,Surface and Subsurface Drainage System,Application of Fresh Soils to the Garden. 8. Purchase of Land for Agricultural Purpose: Medium term loans extended to agriculturists to make Small and Marginal holdings economically viable.Loans given for purchase of fallow lands, waste lands and to bring them under cultivation to improve the income and productivity of Small/Marginal farmers and Agricultural Labours. 9. Rural Employment Generation Program : Here is an attractive scheme for those who want to start a village/cottage industry or establish a service sector unit in a village under food & Agro based sector, polymers and chemicals, engineering and non-conventional energy, forest based activities, mineral based units etc.Individuals, Trusts, co-operatives and institutions can have projects with investments upto Rs.25 lakh. The population of the area where the unit is located should not exceed 20000. Borrowers have to contribute own funds of at least 10% of the project cost. In case of weaker section beneficiaries viz., SCs / STs / OBCs / Women / Minority / Physically Handicapped / Ex-servicemen, Margin requirement is 5% of project cost.Bank loan will be 90% of project cost in general and 95% in case of weaker section beneficiaries. For loan upto Rs.25,000/hypothecation of assets and for loans above Rs.25,000/-, in addition to hypothecation of assets, collateral security of adequate value will be required.Interest rate will be as prescribed by the Bank from time to time. 10. Solar Water Heater Systems : Syndicate Bank launches an Ecofriendly low interest loan scheme to solve your energy crisis in collaboration with Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources,

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________________________________________________________________________ Government of India. You can harvest abundant solar energy through Solar Water Heating System financed under the scheme. Utilise the opportunity to install these system with loan of very low interest rate at 5% p.a., from select Branches of Syndicate Bank and save substantially your time, money and energy. Capacity limitation for financing is 2000 LPD. The borrowers are eligible for loan up to 85% of the cost of the system repayable over a period of 5 years.Solar Water Heating Systems comprising of Flat Plate Collectors (FPC) or Evacuated Tube Collectors (ETC) are eligible to be financed under the scheme. 11. Syndicate 2/3/4 Wheelers Scheme: This scheme is useful for efficient farm management. Financial assistance is available for purchase of 2/3/4 wheelers. Medium term loans are extended for purchasing. Two wheelers such as Scooter / Motorcycle / Mopeds.Pickup vans, Luggage carriers, Cars, Jeeps and Vans.

12. Syndicate Farm House Scheme: The scheme is meant for farmers to enable them to have a decent dwelling house which also takes care of other requirements such as cattle shed, drying yard, farm implements shed. Credit support is extended up to a limit of Rs.10 lakh for construction of farm house. Loans for repair of damaged houses are also extended in rural and semi-urban areas up to Rs.1.00 lakh.Loan is available for purchasing ready built house and also construction of additional farm house. Maximum repayment period is 20 years for new farm house and five years for repair of farm house and the repayment period is linked with the cash flow.The borrower should be an agriculturist with assured source of income and should not be more than 55 years of age Margin to be contributed is 25% of the estimated cost of construction / repair. No conversion of land is necessary and no income proof insisted. 13. Syndicate Kisan Credit Card(SKCC) : The objective of the new scheme is to meet the credit needs of the farmers for cultivation of crops
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________________________________________________________________________ and other requirements in a very convenient manner.Farmers, belonging to villages served by Syndicate Bank, who are not defaulters in respect of earlier loans and who have crop loan requirement, are eligible to avail the facility. This facility is provided to the farmers for meeting expenditure connected with cultivation of various crops, maintenance of small dairy / poultry units, non farm activity and consumption needs to some extent.The farmers having this facility can deposit money in the account when they realise their income and withdraw it whenever needed. Farmers have to pay money into the account after harvest season and have to operate the account regularly.The facility is valid for 3 years. However, Bank will review the operation in the account annually and decide about continuation of the facility.Personal Accident Insurance Cover available upto Rs. 50,000 for farmers upto 70 years of age.Minimum credit balance of Rs.500/- and above in the account between 10th and last date of the month will earn interest at Savings Bank rate.Rate of interest on the facility will be as fixed by the Bank from time to time.The facility is to be secured by hypothecation of crops / other assets and mortgage of land or charge on land wherever required. 14. Tenant Farm Loan: Its objective is to augment flow of credit to tenant farmers cultivating land either as oral lessees or sharecroppers and small farmers who do not have proper title to their land holding through formation and financing Joint Liability Groups (JLGs),to extend collateral free loans to target clients through JLG mechanism,to build mutual trust and confidence between banks and tenant farmers and among group members.

7. OTHER SERVICES : 1. Tele Banking: Round the clock access regarding account details,
balance enquiries, transfer of funds can be made from one a/c to another and utility bills like electricity, telephone, etc., can also be paid.
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________________________________________________________________________

2. Internet Banking: The Bank is accessible from customers home, office

or while they are traveling. A login password and transaction password has to be obtained, with these passwords the customer can login and (a) view a/c transactions (b) effect transfer of funds (c) open a Term Deposit (d) place requests for issue of cheque books, demand drafts, etc.

3. Any Branch Banking: Banking is no longer restricted to the physical

boundaries of the Branch premises. The customer can (a) get cash payment of his cheque upto a limit in any other CBS branches (b) get collection of his cheques (c) purchase DDs, MTs, etc., or get on line transfer of funds.

4. Synd Bill Pay: It is a hassle free utility payment product wherein utility
bills can be paid directly by the Bank. The modes of payment by registering with the Bank (all for no charges) are: a)Autopay where the Bank pays the bill on due date b)On line pay where you can view the bills that are due and authorize payment on line.

5. On-Line Collection of Direct Taxes: The Bank collects Central Board

Direct Taxes from the customer at the selected branches identified for this purpose.

6. On-line Railway Ticket Booking: We have joined hands with Indian

Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Ltd (IRCTC) to offer online booking of railway tickets for all Internet-banking (Syndinet) customers of the Bank. This facility is offered to the customers absolutely free of cost.

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________________________________________________________________________

7. Western Union Money Transfer : The Bank has signed MoU with M/s
Kuoni Travel (India) Pvt Ltd agent for M/s Western Union Network (Ireland) Ltd to make payments of Western Union Money Transfer remitted by NRIs from foreign countries.

8. SyndInstant - (RTGS System for instant transfer of funds) : It is a

technology based initiative for the improvement of Payment & Settlement System linked to the funds management. It is a gross settlement in which both processing and final settlement of funds transfer instructions take place continuously i.e. in real time and transfers are settled individually against the present clearing system. It settles payments on a transaction basis instead of on net settlement basis adopted presently at clearinghouses. The funds transfer through RTGS is instant, final and irrevocable.It is a remittance solution to both corporate customers and individual customers for transfer of funds from their accounts with us to other customers of other bank branches, which are RTGS, enabled.The product is operative only in RTGS enabled CBS branches(at present 178). At present customer transaction of Rs.1.00 lakh and above are allowed under RTGS.

9. Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) System: The scheme is available

for transfer of funds across the Banks at 14 centres at present where Reserve Bank of India manages the Clearing Houses namely Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Bhubaneshwar, Chandigarh, Chennai, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Kolkata, Mumbai, Nagpur, New Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram & Patna. The EFT system works on the principle of " NEXT DAY AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS" i.e. the beneficiary gets the funds credited to his account on the very next day, within 24 hours. Any number of remittances per day is permitted and the amount is directly credited to beneficiary account.

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________________________________________________________________________

10.Syndicate Gift Cheques: These are ideal gift suitable for any occasion
like birthday, naming ceremony, thread ceremony, marriage, marriageanniversary, Deepavali, Christmas etc.Gift cheques are issued at par, i.e., without collecting any charges whatsoever. These are available in denominations of Rs 51, Rs 101 and Rs 501. These are issued at over 786 branches all over India and encashable at par at any Branches / Extension Counters all over India, i.e., in about 2000 outlets of the Bank.

11.

Multi City Accounts: These are accounts which can be operated

in various CBS centres. The customer can opt for one of the five variant of the accounts depending on the minimum average balance: (Synd Silver Current Accounts)(Synd Gold Current Accounts)(Synd Platinum Current Accounts)(Multi-city Corporate with sweep-in & sweep-out facility from OD A/c to Current A/c)(Multi-city SB A/c )These Multi-city cheques can be debited at any of reasonable charges. CBS network branches. Other transactions like purchasing DDs, fund transfer, etc., could be done for

12.

SyndSMSBanking: This is another useful facility for the benefit

of its tech-savvy customers. A mobile phone can make your banking experience more friendly and enjoyable by allowing you to stay connected with your account at any time. SyndSMSBanking is independent of the handset model and you can avail this facility from most of the service providers (GSM/CDMA). All that you have to do is to enter simple text messages for operating this facility.This facility is introduced under CBS environment. Under SyndSMSBanking, we have introduced the following enhanced facilities: 1. SMS Enquiry Facility (SMS PULL Services) 2. SMS Alert Facility (SMS PUSH Services)

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________________________________________________________________________ SMS enquiry facility is on-line and real time basis available 24/7. Whereas, SMS Alert facility will not be real time and you would receive the same within 30 minutes from the time of transaction in the account for which alert to be sent.

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________________________________________________________________________ Graph 2 : A snapshot of various products and services offered by Syndicatebank

Deposits Bancassur ance Loans

Cash Mngmnt Services Syndicate Bank Products & Services

Internet & Telebanki ng

Any Branch Banking

Electronic Funds Transfer

Credit & Debit Cards Multi City Accounts Online Collection of Direct Taxes

Online Railway Ticket Booking

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________________________________________________________________________

Deposits Bancassur ance Loans

Cash Mngmnt Services Syndicate Bank Products & Services

Internet & Telebanki ng

Any Branch Banking

Electronic Funds Transfer

Credit & Debit Cards Multi City Accounts Online Collection of Direct Taxes

Online Railway Ticket Booking

4.4

RESPONDENTS PROFILE

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________________________________________________________________________

For this study, the universal sample comprised of 100 respondents. The respondents consisted of both men and women from different stratas of the society. The customers of the Bank range from rich businessmen to the underprivileged farmers. The customers include both the self employed as well as salaried people. For constructing this sample, 100 customers of the Bank were selected randomly and interviewed. The sample consists of respondents with different age, qualification, income group and needs. Graph 3: Age Profile of respondents

Age Profile

17%

15%
1 8-25 yrs 25-40 yrs

23% 45%

40-55 yrs 55 yrs & above

Majority of the respondents belonged to the age group of 25 40 years. The reason associated with it is that this group is the highest user of retail offerings. The following graph gives details about the income profile of the respondents. Respondents earning Rs. 8000-15000 constitute the major chunk of the respondents using retail product. This income group qualifies almost all eligibility criteria of retail offerings.

Graph 4 : Income profile of respondents

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________________________________________________________________________

Income Profile

13%

15% Non-earning 15% < 5000 5000-15000 15000-30000 > 30000 27%

30%

Graph 5 : Professional profile of respondents:

Retail products being also designed for students and retired people, they were considered for the survey. Salaried and businessmen are the major users of retail products.

Proffessional Profile
9 7 Students Salaried Businessmen Retired 29

15

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CHAPTER 4

ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

4.1

TABLES AND ANALYSIS

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________________________________________________________________________

With the help of available data actual benefits can be found out by using statistical tools such as inserting graphs, calculating percentage level of respondents etc. The number of people from whom data has been collected are: Table 8 : Gender wise classification of respondents Male Female Total 62 38 100

Graph 7 : Gender-wise classification of respondents

38%

62%

men

women

Question : How often do you visit the branch?

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________________________________________________________________________ Purpose : To know the popularity of internet and branch banking Table9 : Number of visits to the branch : Number Percentage Daily 0 0% Weekly 55 55% Fortnightly 25 25% Monthly 20 20%

Graph 8 :Number of visits to the branch :

20%

0% Daily Weekly Forthnightly Monthly

25%

55%

Analysis: Almost 55% respondents visit the branch weekly followed by 25% respondents who visit the branch fortnightly while only 20% of the respondents visit the branch monthly. Large proportions of the respondents visit the branch weekly and fortnightly which is a high frequency. This shows the keenness of the customers to visit the branch for various issues but. Nonetheless, the Bank must try to popularize internet banking too among its customers to make the branches less crowded. Question : How far is your office/home from the branch? Purpose : To ascertain whether the customers have an easy access to the branch or not.

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________________________________________________________________________ Table 10: Distance from branch: Distance Percentage 0-1 km 15 15% 1-5 km 45 45% 5-10 km 15 15% >10 km 25 25%

Graph 9 :Distance from branch:

25%

15% 0-1KM 1-5 KM 5-10KM

15%

> 10KM 45%

Analysis : A large percentage of respondents live far from their bank branch, 45% are 1-5km away from their bank branch, 15% are further 5-10km away whereas 25% have their bank branches more than 10km away from their home/office and still the visits to the branch have a high frequency. Only 15 % of the respondents are as close as 0-1km from their bank branch. This means that the customers have to commute long distances to reach the branches. Question : What are the various issues for which you need to visit the branch? Table11: Reasons for visiting the branch:
Cheque deposit fd/rd renewal Cash deposit Cash withdrawal Dd/po funds statements a/c opening

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________________________________________________________________________
and Number Percentage 21 21% deposit 1 1% 30 30% 3 3% transfer 15 15% 4 4% 26 26%

Graph 10 :Reasons for visiting the branch:

cheque deposit fd/rd opening and renew al 26% 21% 1% 4% 15% 3% 30% dd/po/funds transfer statements a/c opening cash deposit cash w ithdraw l

Analysis : Since multiple answers were given, the highest frequency of people visiting the branch is for cash deposit while a/c opening is the next favorite in the answers. The Bank should come up with some alternative measures for these, as it will help the Bank in enforcing anytime, anywhere banking in the true sense of the word.

Ques : What influences your purchase decision at Syndicate Bank? Table 12: Reasons for purchase at Syndicate Bank: Interest Number Rates 35 Processing Time 37
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Goodwill 7

Word mouth 15

of Advertisement 6

________________________________________________________________________ Percentage 35% 37% 7% 15% 6%

Graph 12 :Reasons for purchase at Syndicate Bank:

INFLU NCIN FACTORS E G

Word of mouth

Goodwill

F actors

Analysis: The respondents were asked to rank the following factors according to their preferences to the extent to which they influence their purchase decision at the Bank. Majority of the respondents considered processing time to be the major influencing factor for making purchase decision while interest rate forms a close second. Time is the most valuable factor in todays world of hectic schedules, thats the reason why processing time is considered as most valuable factor in consideration list. Question : What all retail products have you availed from Syndicate Bank? Table: Retail products availed from the bank Housing Loan Number 21% Percentage 21 Vehicle Loan 27 27% Education Loan 6 6% Personal Loan 10 10% Credit Cards 25 25% Others 11 11%

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Advertisement

Interest rates

Processing

40 35 30 25 % 20 15 10 5 0

35

37

15 7 6

time

________________________________________________________________________ Graph 13 :Retail products availed from the bank

Re ta il P ro d u cts Ava ile d

Oth e r s 11% cr e d it car d s 25% Ho u s in g lo an 21%

Pe r s o n al lo an 10%

Ed u catio n lo an 6%

V e h icle lo an 27%

Analysis : In our survey majority of the respondents had availed vehicle loan followed by credit cards. Majority of the respondents belong to the age group of 25-40 and most of them are salaried people. This is the stage where people try to bring alive their aspirations of having their own home and vehicle and hence these loan constitute major chunk of retail product availed by the respondents.

Question : How do you get informed about various Syndicate Bank schemes? Table : Medium of awareness of the products: Television Number Percentage 7 7% Newspaper s& Magazines 35 355
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Billboards & Hoardings 17 17%

Word of Mouth 26 26%

Website 15 15%

________________________________________________________________________

Graph 14 : Medium of awareness of the products:

Aw areness of Syndicate Bank Through Various Medium

15%

7% 35%

Television New spapers & Magzines Billboards & Hoardings Word of Mouth Website

26% 17%

Analysis: Customers awareness of Syndicate Bank through various media was measured. Syndicate Bank being an old and experienced player, has immense awareness through the word of mouth media.

Ques: To what extent are the customers satisfied with the products and services of Syndicate Bank Table: Level of customer satisfaction : Satisfied Number 64 Percentage 64% Mostly Satisfied 24 24% Neither Satisfied/Unsatisfied 10 10% Mostly Unsatisfied Unsatisfied 2 0 2% 0%

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________________________________________________________________________

Graph: Level of customer satisfaction :

Customer Satisfaction

2% 10% 24% 0% satisfied mostly satisfied niether satisfied/unsatisfied mostly unsatisfied 64% unsatisfied

Analysis: The graph shows that 64% of the respondents are satisfied with the products of the Bank while 24% of them are satisfied to a large extent. While none of the customers are dissatisfied with the services, 10% of them are indifferent and 2% are always dissatisfied to a large extent. This shows that most of the people who transact with the Bank are happy with its services but a large chunk of them, i.e., 26% are not always satisfied with the services of the Bank. As such the Bank should provide even more flexible and friendly customer services to gain more weightage on the customer satisfaction scale.

Ques: Which is your favorite Bank for transacting? Table: To know the customer preferences for Syndicate Bank over other Banks. Quality Service Rates charged

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________________________________________________________________________ Graph:

CHAPTER 5

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________________________________________________________________________

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1

FINDINGS

Almost 60% of the respondents live within a range of 5-10 kms from the Bank. So because of this, the customers experience inconvenience in commuting long distances. A large number of respondents visit the branch frequently to handle banking issues even though their bank branch is quiet far of for either their home or office, this shows the keenness of the customers to visit the branch for almost every small issue.

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________________________________________________________________________ Processing time and interest rates are major influencing factors for making purchase decision. Awareness through newspapers and magazines is at the highest level followed by word of mouth advertising. The branches are crowded with customers for most part of the day. It is clear that out of 52 sample 82 per cent of clients are satisfied with the service and 18 per cent are not satisfied with the service. From the survey it is clear that Customers are Satisfied with services given by the ICICIdirect It has been found that still customers prefer to Offline Trading and the Company has to create more awareness about Online Trading products and their promotional activities. The people are successful in sorting out the 80 per cent of client problems within seven days.

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5.2

RECOMMENDATIONS

The key for retail banking service providers to stay one step ahead of the competition is to recognize and understand the changing needs of the market and deliver a highly valued solution The bank has a lot of scope to enhance its retail banking. The keys to its retail strategy can be developing new products and services, networking its branch locations, developing its distribution channels including ATMs and internet banking. Though the bank has a nationwide presence in the agriculture and smallscale industry sectors but it still has a lot of scope for strengthening its priority sector banking business. One aspect of its strategy could be to further strengthen its ties with the agricultural community by providing training and social support programs for the rural populace. The Bank should market its products more aggressively to attract more customers and combat competition posed by the private sector players. The Bank should popularize Internet Banking among the customers even further to make the branches less crowded. The Bank should also ensure easy access of the customers to the branches by opening more branches. To popularize ICICIdirect.com products, company has to come up with more advertisement media such as direct marketing, hoardings, newspapers and direct mail. According to the findings, the company people should contact their customer at least once in every month so that they can log in the customer and tell the current news about ICICIdirect Company and market including introduction of special services.

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5.3
Conclusions

CONCLUSION

The study was aimed at Comparison between the selected portals with reference to ICICIdirect.com Limited. And conclusion has been drawn after carrying out analysis of the data.

It is seen that the respondents have been trading through the online, which is a positive stroke to the stock brokers. This proves the point that there is a strong presence of online trading in city.

Awareness about ICICIdirect.com is high.

Its different avenues like Classic

Account, Call-n-Trade etc., are quite familiar to the respondents. Most of the respondents know about ICICIdirect.com through company peoples not through advertisements. Majority of the respondents feel that the service offering by ICICIdirect.com is very satisfactory.

Retail banking in India has fast emerged as one of the major drivers of the overall banking industry and has witnessed enormous growth in the recent past. Retail

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________________________________________________________________________ banking is the fastest growing sector of the banking industry with the key success by attending directly the needs of the end customers is having glorious future in coming years. Retail banking sector as a whole is facing a lot of competition ever since financial sector reforms were started in the country. Walk-in business is a thing of past and banks are now on their toes to capture business. Banks therefore, are now competing for increasing their retail business. There is a need for constant innovation in retail banking. This requires product development and differentiation, micro-planning, marketing, prudent pricing, customization,

technological upgradation, home / electronic / mobile banking, effective risk management and asset liability management techniques. India has emerged as a potential market with huge investment opportunities. Syndicate Bank has been quiet successful in tapping this opportunity through its innovative retail products for different stratas of the society. The higher growth of retail lending in Syndicate Bank is attributable to fast growth of personal wealth, favourable demographic profile, rapid development in information technology, the conducive economic environment and financial market reforms. The retail banking market is continuing to evolve and undergo significant market change. Increasing competition, product and service diversification, and greater online channel usage have resulted in a need for banks to deepen relationships with existing clients, as well as attract and convert

prospects. The retail banking strategies of the Bank has undergone major transformation, as it has adopted a mix of strategies like organic growth, acquisitions and alliances. This has resulted in a paradigm shift in the marketing strategies of the Bank.

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________________________________________________________________________ Syndicate Bank is adopting aggressive strategies, leveraging its branch network and customer base to earn a larger share of the retail pie. The Bank is also going in for innovative strategies like cross selling and packaged selling of retail products. At the same time, it is offering new foreign players tough competition too.

BIBILIOGRAPHY

www.syndicatebank.in

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________________________________________________________________________ www.google.com www.managementparadise.com www.hindu.com www.wikipedia.com www.businessworld.in www.rbi.org.on www.yahoo.com

ANNEXURES

The following is the copy of the questionnaire used for the purpose of data collection for this project.
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________________________________________________________________________

QUESTIONNAIRE

Name : _______________________________ Age : _______________________________ Sex : _______________________________ Marital Status : ________________________

1. Nature of work: Businessman Government Private Individual

2. Do you prefer online banking or branch banking? Online Banking Branch Banking

3. Which bank do you prefer transacting with? ICICI Canara Bank Syndicate Bank PNB SBI Axis Bank Standard Chartard Bank

4. Are you satisfied with the customer service provided by Syndicate Bank? Yes No

5. Are the branches of Syndicate Bank easily accessible? Yes No

6. Are the interest rates offered by Syndicate Bank attractive than other banks? Yes No

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________________________________________________________________________ 7. Does the website of Syndicate Bank provide all the necessary and updated information? Yes No

8. Do the products and services provided by Syndicate Bank satisfy all your needs? Yes No

9. How many years experience have you had with Syndicate Bank? < 1 yr 1-5 yrs 5-10 yrs >10 yrs

10. What are the attractive features of Syndicate Bank? Attractive interest rates Good customer service Variety of products Low processing time and formalities

11. Which retail banking product have you availed of from Syndicate Bank? Housing Loan Personal Loan Car Loan Education Loan Others, Please specify _________________

12. Is there a difference between the promised and delivered services of Syndicate Bank? Yes No

13. How do you get informed about the latest offerings of Syndicate Bank? Word of Mouth Website Through other people 14. Rank the following factors according to their weightage in your purchase decision. Cost Processing time Goodwill Word of mouth Advertisement _______ _______ _______ _______ ________ Newspapers & Magzines Billboards Television

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________________________________________________________________________ 15. Would you recommend your bank to someone else for the same product or any other product that your bank offers? Yes No

16. Please recommend a retail product, not currently available, which if offered, will be readily availed by you. _____________________________________

17. What problems do you encounter while dealing with Syndicate Bank? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ 18. What improvements would you suggest for enhancing the services of Syndicate Bank? ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

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