Thiruvananthapuram, April 30 (IANS) After showing negative growth in 2009-10, non-resident Indian (NRI) deposits in Kerala's State Bank of Travancore (SBT) registered positive growth in the last fiscal, an official said Saturday.

 
 The SBT has a representative office in Dubai and manages two exchange houses and has tie-ups with 28 exchange houses in the Middle East.
 
 Speaking to reporters here, SBT managing director P. Pradeep Kumar said NRI deposits in the last fiscal grew from Rs.10,298 crore ($2.3 billion) in 2009-10 to Rs.10,914 crore in the last fiscal.
 
 "In the year ended 2008-09, it stood at Rs.10,366 crore and now this has shown a positive growth. During the period when it showed a negative growth, there was uncertainty prevailing in the Middle East and now the NRI deposits have grown," said Kumar.
 
 The SBT in the last fiscal showed a growth of 20.95 percent in operating profit and it grew from Rs.972 crore in 2009-10 to Rs.1,176 crore in the last fiscal.
 
 "Of the 792 branches, we have 78 percent of the branches in Kerala and we have a market share of 22.13 percent in the banking business of the state," he said.
 
 "In comparison to other associate banks of the State Bank of India (SBI) we have the best e-banking facilities. And with regards to granting of educational loans we have the largest share," said Kumar.
 
 The overall business of the bank grew by a healthy 20.30 percent from Rs.89,345 crore in 2009-10 to Rs.104,202 crore in the last fiscal, he said.
 
 "We are happy that during the past one year our advances to the agriculture sector grew by 70 percent to touch Rs.5,580 crore. The total advances touched Rs.50,883 crore. During the period, we opened 44 new branches and the RBI (Reserve Bank of India) has given us permission to open another 75 branches besides internal approvals to open another 55 more branches," added Kumar.
 
 The bank since going public in 1996 is now getting ready for its first ever rights issue to the tune of Rs.500 crore which has been cleared by the RBI and the SBI.