Vijaya Bank
 | |
| Public BSE: 532401 | |
| Industry |
Financial Commercial banks |
| Founded |
1931 at Mangaluru, India. |
| Headquarters | Bengaluru, India |
Key people | Shri. Kishore Kumar Sansi, MD & CEO |
| Owner | Government of India |
Number of employees | 14,544 (2015-16) |
| Website | www.vijayabank.com |
Vijaya Bank is a fastest growing Public Sector Bank with its Corporate Office in Bangalore, Karnataka, India. It is one of the nationalised banks in India. The Bank offers a wide range of financial products and services to the customers through its various delivery channels. The Bank has a network of 1900 branches (August 2016) throughout the country and over 3500 customer touch points including 1651 ATMs.
History
Vijaya Bank was established by a group of farmers led by Shri. Attavar Balakrishna Shetty on 23 October 1931[1] in Mangalore in Dakshina Kannada District of Karnataka State. Since it was established on the auspicious Vijayadashami Day, it was named 'Vijaya Bank'.[2]
The birth of Vijaya Bank in the year 1931 was preceded by the economic chaos created out of the Great Depression of 1927-30. The worldwide economic depression had severe impact on the Indian economy and the financial system. Moved by the pitiable conditions of the agriculturists, Shri Attavara Balakrishna Shetty was determined to devise some institutional remedy to annihilate their sufferings. Shri AB shetty approached leading Bunt personalities to start a Bank with the objective of extending credit facilities at a lower rate of interest to enable the farmers to cultivate their lands and prevent them from falling into the clutches of money lenders. Accordingly, Shri AB Shetty involved 14 Bunts and established Vijaya Bank on October 23, 1931. In the beginning the Bank had an authorised capital of Rs. 5 lakh and an issued capital of Rs. 2 lakh. The paid up capital was Rs. 8670.
Growth & Nationalisation
The Bank grew steadily since its inception. The Bank became a scheduled bank in 1958. After having buffeted the storms of the Great Depression, surviving the 60s, when small banks were merged with other banks as per RBI directive, Vijaya Bank emerged stronger and began its journey of success. Under the Chairmanship of Shri. Mulki Sunder Ram Shetty, Vijaya Bank steadily grew into a large All India Bank with 9 smaller banks merging with it during 1963-1968. During the year 1965, the Bank registered its own logo. The Bank’s Head Office was shifted to Bengaluru on November 11, 1969. The Bank was nationalised on 15 April 1980. At the time of nationalization, the Bank had 571 branches, with a total business of Rs. 605.95 crore and a staff strength of 9059.
The present Head Office building of the Bank at Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bengaluru was inaugurated by the Hon’ble President of India (then Honble Union Finance Minister) Shri Pranab Kumar Mukherjee on 26.10.1984.
Business Operations
The Bank’s total business is over Rs.2,16,000 crore comprising deposits of Rs. 1,25,441 crore and advances of Rs. 90,765 crore as at 31 March 2016. Basically being a retail bank, its topline growth owes quite a lot to the retail segments. Retail advances of the Bank constitute 26% of the gross credit.
Network and Distribution
As on 31 August 2016, the Bank had a wide branch network of 1900 branches comprising nearly 395 Metro, 474 Urban, 508 Semi-urban and 486 Rural branches. Improving the presence and performance under alternative delivery channels, especially internet and mobile banking channel are key focus areas of the Bank. The Bank has 1651 ATMs as on 31 March 2016. Vijaya Bank provides access to over 2.21 lakh ATMs connected under National Financial Switch across the country.
Financial Inclusion Initiatives
In line with the country’s inclusive growth framework, the Bank has been actively pursuing the agenda of Financial Inclusion. The Bank’s initiatives in this direction aim at financial empowerment and reaching banking services to the rural masses. Vijaya Bank has stood up-to the mandate of our Prime minister’s call, by opening Basic Savings Bank Accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana and providing all the account holders with Rupay debit cards. The Bank is actively participating in promoting social security schemes such as Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana and Atal Pension Yojana. The Bank is also actively implementing the modified Direct Benefit Transfer(DBT) programme of the Government of India.
Corporate Social Responsibility Activities
The Bank has adopted formal CSR activities as per Government directives. The Bank’s various corporate social responsibilities include, among others, serving national priorities, promoting rural development, adopting girl children up to their graduation, supporting primary health and providing drinking water facilities etc. Besides this, the Bank has been supporting various initiatives to help the needy people by extending donations. In response to Hon. Prime Minister’s announcement on implementation of Swachchh Vidyalay, the Bank has provided sanitation facilities to 56 Govt. Schools mostly in rural areas. The Bank has established 32 Rural Health Centres where patients are provided primary healthcare and medicines free of cost.
Unique CSR Activity: Adoption of Girl Child
As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility, the Bank has devised a unique programme to adopt girl children. The Policy of Girl Child Adoption was introduced by the Bank in 2011 under which Bank adopts girl children from SC/ ST/ OBC/ economically weaker sections / backward areas/ poor families from the age of 5 years onwards to promote girl child education, mostly from rural and backward areas. As on date, Bank has adopted 209 girl children all over the country.
Initiatives for Next Generation
The Bank is always in the forefront to offer its products and services to customers based on latest technology.
Some new initiatives are as follows:
FreeBuzz-Missed Call Services to enable customers to know account balance easily.
V-GyanSagar: It is an unique initiative taken by Vijaya Bank to impart financial literacy to public. It is Android based mobile application that enables its subscribers to receive regular updates on banking and financial news. It provides explanation of banking terminologies.
V-Abacus: This initiative enables public to open a bank account by giving a missed call. Tablet Banking facility has been implemented.
V-QuickPay: It is unique next generation bill payment service where bill payment is made by scanning the QR code on the bill generated by the merchant. There is no need to swipe credit or debit cards. This is truly unique initiative taken by the Vijaya Bank.
V-Free Hive: Bank's in-house software development team has developed a unique application for collection of fees by educational institutions, collection of monthly maintenance charges by housing societies, collection of fees by clubs. This application was implemented in various prestigious institutions like IIM-Kozhikode, Mount Carmel College -Bangalore, Army Public School-Delhi, MSRIT Bangalore and Vasavi Pearl Appartment. It is a great step towards making cashless society.
V-eWallet: It is a unique secured small payment collection system designed using UNIQUE-pull technology.
UPI: Vijaya Bank has recently rolled out Unified Payment Interface (UPI) which is introduced by the RBI.
References
- ↑ "A banker erased from memory". Deccan Herald. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ↑ Vijaya Bank - Inception Archived 8 September 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
