Lenders outside the consortium are Srei Infrastructure Finance (Rs. 430 crore), Jammu & Kashmir Bank (Rs. 80 crore) and Oriental Bank of Commerce (Rs. 50 crore).
On SBI's efforts to merge some of its subsidiaries, Bhattacharya said the bank is not looking into it at the moment and would see how things develop after the elections.
“At this point of time, we are not really looking into it. We will see how things go once the new government is formed and we want to understand what they would like us to do,” she said.
SBI and its associate banks already have the same technology platform and accounting principles, she said.
Before going into the merger, the bank needs to align the HR practices adopted by the associate banks, she said.
She said SBI planned to expand its operations in rural areas to ensure financial inclusion in the country.
The hub and spoke system would be strengthened through business correspondents to provide banking services in villages, Bhattacharya said.
The bank has 90,000 business correspondents now who reach out to villages with mini-ATMs, accepting deposits, recovering loans and providing withdrawal facilities, Bhattacharya said.
She said more such banking services will be added in the coming days.
Speaking about corporate social responsibility, she said the bank spent Rs. 142 crore in 2012-13 for CSR.
She added that 47,041 people were imparted vocational training and 24,535 of them were either provided placement or finance for self-employment ventures.
