Mangaluru: The South Canara District Central Co-operative Bank Ltd. (SCDCC Bank) will open three more new branches in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi district. With this, the number of branches will increase to 105.

Addressing a press meet here on Thursday, SCDCC Bank president M N Rajendra Kumar said that the branches will come up at Darbe in Puttur, Mudduru in Udupi and Damaskatte in Aikala of Mangaluru.

He said the branch at Darbe will be inaugurated on March 20 by MLA Shakunthala Shetty. MP Nalin Kumar Kateel will inaugurate the computerisation facility in the branch while ZP president Meenakshi Shanthigodu will inaugurate the locker.

The branch at Mudduru in Udupi will be inaugurated by Minister Pramod Madhwaraj on March 22.

The branch at Damaskatte in Aikala will be inaugurated by MLA Abhayachandra Jain on March 26.

He said that a special prize has been announced for customers of the new branches. In the deposit collection campaign, those who had deposited above Rs 2,000 and have an FD of above Rs 25,000, will get to participate in a lucky draw. The first prize will be a 4-gram gold coin while the second prize will be a 2-gram gold coin.

A lucky coupon will be drawn for those customers who attend the inaugural programme.

The winners will get 4 gram and 2-gram gold coins respectively.

He said as part of the deposit campaign initiated in these three branches, Darbe branch has received Rs 22 crore deposit, while Madduru and Damaskatte branches have received over Rs 10 crore deposits.

All the three branches are computerised and have core banking, RTGS, and NEFT facilities.

Rajendra Kumar said that in the loan waiver scheme, (up to Rs 50,000) as announced by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in 2017-18, a sum of Rs 364.53 crore had to be released for the farmers in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi districts.

The SCDCC Bank has submitted bills amounting to Rs 172.76 crore upto February 2018.

The government has reimbursed Rs 133.29 crore up to October 2017, he said.

In reply to a query with regard to any major defaulters in the bank, Kumar said, “We lend loans as per the guidelines of Nabard.”