Leading cooperative lender Saraswat Bank has announced a tie-up with Reliance ADAG under which the Anil Ambani-led group will market a core banking solution developed by the bank’s infotech subsidiary.
“We have recently tied up with the ADAG through which we can sell our core banking software, ‘Swift Core’, to banks using ADAG’s optical fibre network spread across the country,” Saraswat Bank Chairman Eknath Thakur told reporters on Wednesday evening.
Swift Core has been developed by Saraswat Infotech Limited (SIL), Thakur said, adding that an estimated 300 small banks across the country need to install core banking software as a compliance measure.
“The large banks go for packages developed by bigger companies like (Oracle) I-flex and Infosys, but we will target the product at 300 smaller banks who also need to install
CBS,” Thakur said.
ADAG will market the product and do the invoicing, while SIL will serve as the service provider and carry out the maintenance, he said, without specifying the name of the ADAG group company or subsidiary it has partnered with.
Thakur said SIL will benefit a lot from the tie-up with ADAG, with ADAG investing over Rs 15,000 crore to erect the OFC network. It also has 6,000 employees and a centralized data monitoring centre at Navi Mumbai, which will help Saraswat Bank.
Saraswat Bank was recently given a pan-India operations licence by the Reserve Bank, making it the first lender from the cooperative space to be granted such a go-ahead, Thakur said.
It is looking at expanding its branch network to 500 from the present 216 by FY’16-end and a majority of the new branches will be in geographies outside where it has a presence presently.
The 93-year-old bank plans to open 50 branches in cities having a population of over 10 lakh in the next two years and will first concentrate on expansion in southern states, which will be followed by the National Capital Region and other northern states, Thakur said.
Saraswat Bank’s total business crossed Rs 28,000 crore, making it the largest cooperative bank in the country, Thakur claimed.
“Before its board was dissolved, the Maharashtra State Cooperative Bank, which is supported by the state government, was the biggest, with a total business mix of Rs 27,800 crore… We have crossed them,” Thakur said.