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Punjab National Bank celebrates 117th Foundation Day
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| merisarkar news service April 14, New Delhi |
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PNB Foundation day celebrations
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Punjab National Bank (PNB) celebrated its 117th Foundation Day on April 13, 2011 at a function held at New Delhi where Namo Narain Meena Minister of State for Finance was the Chief Guest.
Shashi Kant Sharma, Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Finance, Dept of Financial Services was the Guest of Honour.
KR Kamath, Chairman & Managing Director of PNB said that customer-centric approach of the bank has won resulted in winning the confidence of nearly 6.3 crore customers.
Kamath informed that the bank has always been sensitive to the changing needs of the customers and is leveraging on technology to meet such requirements as well as extending its outreach to support inclusive growth. He thanked the patrons, customers and all the stakeholders for their whole-hearted support in making PNB the second largest bank in the country.
Minister of State for Finance, Namo Narain Meena, in his address appreciated PNB's contributions as a premier national bank and its inspiring role in financial inclusion. He recognized the efforts of the banking sector towards creation of an inclusive society by extension of banking services. Resultantly, at the end of September 2010, the number of people covered by a bank branch was 14,000 compared to 65,000 at the time of nationalization in 1969.
He, however, observed that much needs to be done to achieve financial inclusion. He urged banks to use technology as a key enabler for improving the reach of banking services at affordable cost to the unbanked. He appreciated that PNB is today recognized in the industry as an institution with strong fundamentals, large franchise value and good brand image but more importantly as a bank that has remained fully committed to its guiding principles of sound and prudent banking.
He also commended PNB's implementation of technology-based initiatives to emerge as techno-savvy while remaining rooted firmly in its belief of providing competitive, yet cost-effective banking and financial solutions across the entire spectrum of its customers.
On this occasion, Namo Narain Meena dedicated 117 branches of the Bank and 117 ATMs to the service of customers, taking total number of branches to over 5200 and ATMs to 5167. He also launched a pioneering initiative 'PNB Vikas' under Bank's CSR initiative under which the Bank has adopted 117 villages across India for integrated development on sustainable basis.
Shashi Kant Sharma, Secretary, Deptt. of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, in his address, stressed on the need for accelerating the efforts for financial inclusion with particular emphasis on sustainability. He lauded the efforts like 'Swabhiman', the smart card based programme for financial inclusion and said that the allotment of 'Aadhaar' number to citizens will further supplement the efforts of banks towards reaching the unbanked population.
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