The country's largest bank, State Bank of India, has planned to open 1, 200 new bank branches across the country by the end of the current financial year. Announcing the public sector bank's expansion plans, Managing Director and Group Executive of National Banking segment, SBI, Mr. A. Krishna Kumar said that in the previous financial year also the bank had increased its network by opening 645 new branches. He said that the previous fiscal was a period of consolidation as the bank had added 1000 branches in the three years prior to the fiscal 2011-12.

Currently, SBI has 14, 127 branches across the country. It is reported that SBI has the highest number of branches in the country. It is evident from the fact that its closest public sector competitor, Punjab National Bank, has a total of 5, 697 branches throughout the country and its closest competitor in the private sector, ICICI Bank, has a total of 2, 755 branches across India.

The new branches will be added in urban and metro areas. The bank will be adding new branches according to its market share in those areas. According to Mr. Krishna Kumar, about 700 branches will be added in urban and metro areas, another 300 branches will be opened in un-banked areas and the rest of the branches will be added as per requirements.