The meeting was attended by chief general managers of all the 13 circles and subsidiaries of the bank like SBI Caps, SBI Securities and SBI Gilts. Among other things, the bank's brass also focussed on the corporate perception of State Bank, sources said.

The key to the new strategy is to boost the bank's non-interest income and push its net profit from the March 1998 level of Rs 1,861 crore to Rs 3,125 crore in March 2001. "At a time when the spread is under tremendous pressure and the margin is squeezed, the only way to grow is to push fee-based income," a senior bank executive said.

Among the new products, the bank is ready with a gold-depositscheme. The other product on which it is depending on to boost its profitability is life insurance. State Bank will float a new subsidiary for this business. The 13,000-and-odd branches of the bank will be used to sell the insurance products.

"The agenda of the meeting went beyond the conventional subjects like credit growth and deposit growth. It focussed on how to deal with competition. The bank is facing challenges not only from foreign banks, but also from new private-sector banks," sources said.

The State Bank brass has decided to take trade unions into confidence in charting out the future course of action. "The management will not be able to do a whole lot of things unless the SBI Act is amended. However, within the existing framework, the management will bring in changes at the organisational level to meet the challenges of the new millennium," sources said.

The bank is aiming at 16-17 per cent average credit growth every year. This year, up to December, the point-to-point credit growth was Rs1,300 crore. This, despite the decline in credit offtake to the oil sector by Rs 700 crore and sugar advances by Rs 300 crore.