Central Bank of India

Central Bank of India was the first Indian commercial bank and it was owned and
managed by Indians. The establishment of the Bank, in 1911 (Mumbai), was the ultimate
realisation of the dream of Sir Sorabji Pochkhanawala, founder of the Bank. Sir Pherozesha
Mehta was the first Chairman of a truly 'Swadeshi Bank'. He said that 'Central Bank of India
lives on people's faith and regards itself as the people's own bank'. During the past 102 years of
history the Bank has weathered many storms and faced many challenges.The bank has 4600
branches and 4 extension counters across 27 Indian states and three Union Territories.
Some of the banking activities that have been launched by Central Bank of India
are:
1921: Introduction to the Home Savings Safe Deposit Schemeto build saving/thrift habits
in all sections of the society.
1924: An Exclusive Ladies Department to cater to the Bank's women clientele.
1926: Safe Deposit Locker facility and Rupee Travellers' Cheques.
1929: Setting up of the Executor and Trustee Department.
1932: Deposit Insurance Benefit Scheme.
1962: Recurring Deposit Scheme
1976: The Merchant Banking Cell was established.
1980: Centralcard, the credit card of the Bank was introduced.
1986: 'Platinum Jubilee Money Back Deposit Scheme' was launched.
1989: The housing subsidiary Cent Bank Home Finance Ltd. was started with its
headquarters at Bhopal in Madhya Pradesh.
1994: Quick Cheque Collection Service (QCC) & Express Service was set up to enable
speedy collection of outstation cheques.
The present Chairman and Managing Director is Shri. Rajeev Rishi. The corporate
vision is To emerge as a strong, vibrant and pro-active Bank/Financial Super Market and to

positively contribute to the emerging needs of the economy through consistent harmonization
of human, financial and technological resources and effective risk control systems.
The corporate mission is to transform the customer banking experience into a fruitful and
enjoyable one, to leverage technology for efficient and effective delivery of all banking services
and to have bouquet of product and services tailor-made to meet customer`s aspirations.
Serving over five hundred thousand micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)
across India, Central Bank of India is committed to helping more and more MSMEs achieve
success. This nationalized bank offers a number of schemes for the benefit of MSMEs, and is all
set to launch new schemes and modify some existing schemes to extend more help to this
important segment of our countrys economy.
In an exclusive interaction with Supportbiz, Sohail Ahmed, Chief Manager - Central
Office, Mumbai (head office), Central Bank of India, stated that the bank has over 4,300
branches that deal with the SME segment and 535 exclusively focused on the MSME segment.
These branches are committed to providing financial help to MSMEs as quickly as possible.
We have loan schemes for people from different walks of life. We cater to the needs of
the people belonging to all segments, he said.
Ahmed stated that there are 11 schemes presently offered by the bank for MSMEs
Cent Mortgage: The purpose of this scheme is to meet personal or business finance
needs, excluding those for speculative purposes, real estate or capital market activity. These
loans are offered against the mortgage of immovable property located in urban/semi urban/rural
areas. The rate of interest under this scheme is 13.75 per cent.
Cent

Trade: This

scheme

caters

to

all

types

of

traders,

including

retailers/distributors/commission agents/dealers of major companies. The rate of interest under

this scheme is 13.25 per cent.
Cent Doctor Scheme: This scheme allows a person to purchase or upgrade equipments,
set up a clinic, x-ray laboratory or pathological laboratory, and nursing home, purchase vehicles,

stock of medicines and disposables. The person should have a recognized qualification in any
branch of medical science. No collateral is required for loans of up to Rs.1 crore, which are
covered under Credit Guarantee Trust Fund For Micro And Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) only.
Cent Construction Equipment Finance: This scheme provides fiannce to contractors
engaged in road construction, mining, oil exploration, railways, power and irrigation, as well as
sub-contractors. Finance is provided to help them purchase new machinery/equipment/vehicles
for construction activities. The rate of interest under this scheme is 11 per cent. 25 per cent of the
loan amount will be taken as collateral by way of mortgage of property/land or any liquid
security.
Cent Contractor:

This scheme targets civil contractors, sub-contractors and

construction contractors. The maximum limit for loans under this scheme is Rs. 5 crore, and the
rate of interest ranges between 10.25 per cent and 14 per cent.
Cent Food Processing Plus: This scheme targets dal mills, flour mills, suji mills, oil
mills and rice mills. The rate of interest under this scheme depends upon the extent of collateral
security provided.
Cent Protsahan Scheme: The purpose of this scheme is to meet exhibition participation
fees or transit expenses of partners or directors of firms engaged in the MSE sector, for
participating in various exhibitions in India or abroad. This includes individuals between 21 and
55 years of age, having a minimum income of Rs. 5 lakh p.a. Loans of up to Rs. 1 lakh require
personal guarantee. The applicable rate of interest under this scheme is 14 per cent.
Mukhya Mantri Yuva Swarozgar Yojna Scheme for Madhya Pradesh: The objective
of this scheme is to promote entrepreneurship in Madhya Pradesh. Finance is offered under this
scheme without any collateral security. The rate of interest ranges between 10.25 per cent and
11.25 per cent.
Central Laghu Udhyami Credit Card: This scheme is for individuals engaged in
manufacturing and providing services. No collateral security is required against such loans. The
rate of interest under this scheme is 10.75 per cent.

Cent Kalyani: The objective of this scheme is to generate continuous and sustainable
employment opportunities for women entrepreneurs. The applicants should be woman
entrepreneurs, above 18 years of age. The rate of interest is 10.5 per cent. No collateral is
required under this scheme.
We will be launching a scheme named Solar Heater Financing Format soon. This
scheme will be useful for those who want to install solar equipments, Ahmed said. We also
plan to modify some of the existing schemes, and to add some more benefits in them, said the
chief manager. Central Bank has always surpassed other banks in terms of the facilities that it
provides. The bank pays the guarantee fee for the first year on behalf of the applicant under the
Cent Kalyani scheme. We also have women cells to deal with the problems being faced by
women entrepreneurs, he said. All of our schemes have the best features, and can be extremely
useful to the people from the concerned segment, he added.
However, recently, Central Bank of India has topped the list of public sector banks with
maximum bad loans including restructured assets as a percentage of total advances.
According to the data provided by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the Finance
Ministry, Central Bank of India's 21.5 per cent assets are either bad or have been restructured to
keep them from turning into non-performing assets (NPAs).
The other banks which have significant amount of gross NPAs and restructured loans
include United Bank of India (19.04 per cent), Punjab and Sind Bank (18.25 per cent) and
Punjab National Bank with 17.85 per cent as on December 2014.
Indian Overseas Bank, State Bank of Patiala, Allahabad Bank and Oriental Bank of
Commerce all have bad and restructured loans in excess of 15 per cent.
The rising bad loans have become a major concern for the RBI well as the government.
Most of the restructured loans are from the corporate sector. The top-30 defaulters are
sitting on bad loans of Rs 95,122 crore, which is more than one-third of the gross nonperforming assets of PSU banks at Rs 2,60,531 crore as of December 2014.

There are four kinds of restructuring. The first and foremost is restructuring of advances
extended to industrial units, restructuring under corporate debt restructuring (CDR) and
restructuring of loans extended to MSME as per RBI guidelines. However, banks have their own
operational rule for restructuring of small loans. The RBI has not prescribed any board or bank
level position at which these loans need to be approved.