With an entire department dedicated to community development projects, SBI obviously sees considerable sense in fulfilling its social responsibilities.

Says the official responsible for these projects: ``The amount spent on such projects is from the business generated by SBI. Usually, 2 per cent of the declared net profit is kept aside for social work. Out of this, 1 per cent goes to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund, and the other 1 per cent is used as a donation for community development projects undertaken by the bank.''

At the end of the day, these socially useful projects help spread awareness about SBI's products and services, and also build a strongbrand equity for the bank. Therefore, the goodwill earned by the bank actually translates into a handsome bottomline.

Run in collaboration with an NGO -- the Society for Social Services -- SBI's drug bank project has been in existence for the last 10 years. The SBI official explains how the drug bank works: ``Operating mainly from Delhi, 10 SBI branches have a medicine box each in the premises, where staff members and the public can donate their surplus medicine. As the boxes get filled, the medicine collected is deposited at the NGO headquarters at Jahangirpuri in Delhi. Thereafter, a panel of doctors identifies the medicines that can be used. Finally, this medicine is distributed free among slum-dwellers. Some of it is kept in the dispensary run by the NGO.''

Rehabilitation of the physically disabled is another significant project taken up by SBI. Again a Delhi-centric project, SBI works here with Safdarjung Hospital to rehabilitate people who are physically challenged.

The official says: ``Peoplefrom far-flung areas come over to the hospital for rehabilitation, and SBI provides them the financial support.'' The bank has also been involved in programmes for the benefit of the mentally retarded. Tamanna and Muskaan are two schools with which the bank has been associated for more than 10 years. Every year, SBI counters put up a sale of the products made by the children of these schools at Diwali. A three-day Diwali sale generates an average of Rs 25,000-30,000. The money goes to the schools.

On a related note, the official adds: ``Recently, SBI donated Rs 2.24 lakh to Tamanna for purchasing computers for the children.''

Talking of assistance, the bank also donated Rs 13 lakh recently to the Nehru Planetarium for buying slide projectors, video cameras and computer systems. Also, it gave Rs 65,000 to the Delhi Foundation for Deaf Women and Rs 40,000 to the Delhi Association of Deaf to enable these organisations to buy computers, which can act as a teaching aid.

Another significant, recentcontribution was to the Sewa Samarpan Kalyan Samiti, which runs a school--the Saraswati Vidya Mandir--in Ghaziabad. Early this year, SBI contributed Rs 28,000 to meet the cost of uniform and shoes for the students of this school, which caters to slum-dwellers and industrial workers. 400 children have benefitted from the bank's schemes since 1992.

Among SBI's other prominent projects, the pulse polio programme attained a national character. SBI is also the only bank to have organised vehicle pollution-check camps. Another popular programme was the one on traffic awareness. SBI's Agra branch and the UP Traffic Police joined hands to hold a quiz competition on traffic awareness for school students. In 1994, the first year of the competition, 2,500 students participated. This year, the number of participating students rose to 8,000.

The bank is into some more educational activities such as its excellence award for meritorious students. SBI's Dehradun branch is a front-runner in recognising student talent andgiving away awards to the top three students in the school leaving examination. The SBI official says that other regions are likely to start similar endeavours soon. Of the more recent contributions, the bank distributed blankets, tents, milk and eatables to the landslide victims in the Garhwal region.

Diabetes-cum-eye check-up camps throughout the country in March this year were also among SBI's long list of social welfare activities. In the Delhi circle alone, 68 branches held these camps and 12,505 persons benefitted from them. Also relevant are SBI's support to research activities.

The bank has a tie-up with Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), whereby SBI (under the research and development head) funds research activities. The present area of research is forecasting financial variables in India. And for a four-and-a-half year old project, the contribution of the bank is to the effect of Rs 18.47 lakh.

So, making use of its vast branch network all over the country, SBI is reaching out to many whoneed its help. But banners, logos, media coverage and lots of goodwill make it a good deal for the bank.