Following is an excerpt from a report in Business Standard.

Indian Bank is set to open four more “Microsate” (a satellite branch for micro loans) branches across the country by the end of 2007, taking the total number to 12. These would come up in Bhubaneswar, New Delhi, Pune, and Bangalore.

The public sector bank was the first bank to introduce exclusive microcredit branches to provide credit to self-help groups (SHGs). It currently has eight exclusive microcredit branches, including the one opened in Chennai (second branch in the city) on Saturday.

According to MS Sundara Rajan, chairman and managing director, Indian Bank, so far 6,982 groups have been provided a credit of Rs 56.42 crore through Microsate branches, which also provide non-credit services like training, counselling and marketing besides catering to the credit needs of the urban poor.

“The bank has so far credit-linked over 2.30 lakh SHGs to the tune of Rs 1,545.48 crore. To meet the needs of the urban poor in Chennai, a Microsate branch was opened in May 2005 in Chetpet. The branch has so far covered over 101,000 families in Chennai. Consequently, six more branches were opened in Patna, Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Nadiad (Ahmedabad), Kollam (Kerala) and Kolkata during the first half of the current fiscal 2007-08,” he said.