UNION BANK OF INDIA Share price

BANK AND MANAGEMENTHistory and DevelopmentUnion Bank of India was founded and registered on November 11 1919 asa limited company with its registered office at 7 Marzban Road FortMumbai. Union Bank shifted its registered office in 1921 to its ownpremises at Mumbai Samachar Marg Fort Mumbai. The inauguration of thenew premises at the hands of Mahatma Gandhi (the father of the nation)is a memorable moment in the history of the Bank inspiring and guidingthe institution and its people to uphold the values of good banking andcustomer care.At the time of independence in 1947 the Bank had only 4 branches; 3 inMumbai and 1 in Saurashtra all concentrated in key trade centresbecause the then Board of the Bank was closely associated with tradeand commerce.It was only from 1960 onwards that the Bank's growth phase began andthe Bank aligned its activities in line with the national priorities.In the context of foreign exchange crisis faced by the country in thelate 50s and early 60s the Bank geared itself to assist the exportsector and push its foreign exchange business with an added emphasis.By 1965 its advances to foreign trade was about 25% of its totaladvances. The Bank has no foreign branches.Similarly realising the need for qualitative change in bankingcoverage it was one of the early banks to open branches in the ruralareas and in 1965 it had 16 branches in rural pockets with apopulation of less than 10000.The Bank has since come a long way crossing the Rs. 10000 crorebusiness mark in 1991 and Rs. 50000 crore mark by 2000. Afternationalisation in 1975 Belgaum Bank Ltd. a private sector bank wasmerged with the Bank. In 1985 Miraj State Bank Ltd. a private sectorbank was merged with the Bank and in 1999 Sikkim Bank Ltd. was mergedwith the Bank. The merger was effected through merger schemes framedby the Government of India. Now the Bank has crossed anothermilestone having garnered a business mix of Rs. 60000 crore asevidenced by the table below:Year Deposits Advances No. of Branches (Rs crore) (Rs crore) (Excl. Extension counters)1920 0.53 0.73 11930 0.27 0.46 11940 1.97 0.67 41950 5.36 1.71 71960 28.50 17.32 531969 133.10 86.50 2731979 1208.32 713.80 11171989 5143.60 2492.18 17401995-1996 17891.73 8681.08 20041996-1997 20004.99 9168.36 20301997-1998 23055.63 10276.19 20871998-1999 28135.65 11308.77 21191999-2000 31105.36 14613.62 21362000-2001 34888.06 17505.35 20532001-2002 39793.86 21383.31 2023The Bank has reduced the number of branches as part of a branchrationalisation process. The Bank has been actively studying branchprofitability and customer convenience at the branches over a period oftime. As a result it was seen that reduction in certain branches wouldresult in complete and better service to the customer. Moreover certainbranches acting as Specialised Savings Branches (created by carving outsavings department of branches) did not achieve the purpose ofmobilising low cost deposit and hence were merged with their originalbranches.The Bank has thus seen a steady and consistent growth in both itsdeposits and advances. In the last five years the deposits andadvances of the Bank have grown at a compounded annual growth rate of14.53% per annum and 17.34% per annum respectively.As against the total deposits figure of Rs. 23056 crore as on March31 1998 the Bank's deposits stood at Rs. 39794 crore as on March 312002 showing an annual increase of more than 11.5% over the last fiveyears.