Finally, waking up to intense competition in the domestic and international financial sectors, State Bank of India has begun firming up 15 new business initiatives with substantial profit potential.

The country’s largest, SBI, with a Rs 6-lakh-crore balance sheet, has formed a new department -- to be headed by a deputy managing director -- to draw up a blueprint for these cutting-edge segments in financial sector services.

Private equity, point of sale, cards business (gift cards, payroll cards & other cards,) pension, general insurance, merchant acquisitions and gold banking are a few areas SBI is looking at for developing its profile as a modern 21 st century bank.

Om Prakash Bhatt, chairman, SBI, said, “Earlier, there were so many businesses which we never ventured into because there was no ownership of these ideas within the bank and the bank was not structured to deal with them. But we are ready to do it now on a grand scale.’’

With the new initiative, SBI is determined to capture its lost market share. “The bank has been losing market share for the past five to ten years,” he admitted.