Kathmandu, August 29:

As a part of its expansion plan, Nepal SBI Bank Ltd today opened its 17th branch at Narayangarh of Chitwan.

Alok Sinha, deputy chief of mission at the Indian embassy in Kathmandu, inaugurated the branch, which would provide all the banking services such as deposits, debit cards, lending and remittance facilities to industrialists, traders and general public.

The bank made a significant progress in the last four years. Its lending grew up by 110 per cent to Rs 10.07 billion in 2006-07 from Rs 4.8 billion in 2003-04, states a press release. “Its deposits have also gone up to Rs 11.45 billion from Rs 6.52 billion in the same period.” The bank posted a net profit of Rs 245.7 million during the fiscal year 2006-07, an increase of more than 100 per cent.