Bank of Baroda Director Report

“The Directors have pleasure in presenting the One Hundred and Sixteenth Annual Report of the Bank with the audited Balance Sheet, Profit & Loss Account and the Report on Business and Operations for the year ended March 31,2024(FY 2024)”.

Business Performance & Key Financials

(' in crore)
		FY 2023	FY 2024
Global Deposits		1203687.79	1326957.84
of which - Internationa! Deposits		156312.58	198444.04
Domestic Deposits		1047375.21	1128513.80
	Current Account Deposits	75110.67	76386.30
of which	Savings Bank Deposits	367399.83	390014.49
Domestic CASA Deposits		442510.5	466400.80
Domestic CASA to Domestic Deposits (%)		42.25	41.33
Net Advances		940998.27	1065781.72
	Dom Advances	776589.63	880816.61
of which	International Net Advances	164408.64	184965.11
Global Gross Advance		969548.31	1090505.80
Total Business (Global Deposit + Global Gross Advance)		2173236.1	2417463.65
Total Assets		1458561.55	1585797.09
Net Interest Income (NII)		41356.01	44721.53
Other Income		10025.84	14495.37
Of which Trading Gains		1062.50	1491.93
Operating Income (NII + Other Income)		51381.58	59216.90
Operating Expenses		24518.31	28251.68
Operating Profit		26863.54	30965.23
Provisions (Other than Tax)		7136.90	6075.61
of which-Provisions for NPAs and Bad debts written off		4,350.52	6470.86
Profit Before Tax		19726.64	24889.61
Provision for Tax		5617.02	7100.83
Net Profit		14109.62	17788.78
Appropriations/Transfers
Statutory Reserve		3,527.40	4,447.20
Capital Reserve		92.57	104.17
Revenue and Other Reserves
I) General Reserve		7274.12	8,079.23
II) Special Reserve u/s 36 (I) (viii) of the Income Tax Act 1961		300.00	615.92
III) Investment Reserve Account		0.00	563.86
IV) Investment Fluctuation Reserve		30.00	0.00
V) Statutory Reserve (Foreign)		41.28	48.17
Proposed Dividend		2,844.25	3,930.24

 

Total deposits of the bank increased to '13,26,958 crore in FY 2024 from '12,03,688 crore in FY 2023, there by registered a growth of 10.2 % on a YoY basis. The domestic CASA of the bank grew by 5.4% on a YoY basis, to reach to the level of '4,66,401 crore, in FY 2024. The Domestic Deposit grew by 7.7% on a YoY basis, to '11,28,514 crore, in FY 2024. The Net advance of the bank increased to '10,65,782 crore in FY 2024 from '9,40,998 crore in FY 2023, there by recorded a growth of 13.3% during the period. The Global Gross advance of the Bank reached to the level of '10,90,506 crore in FY 2024 as compared with '9,69,548 crore in FY 2023 by registering a growth of 12.5% on a YoY basis. The Total Business of the Bank grew to '24,17,464 crore in FY 2024 crore from '21,73,236 crore in FY 2023, registered a growth of 11.2% on YoY basis.

Net Interest Income of the Bank increased to '44,722 crore in FY 2024 from '41,356 crore in FY 2023, grew by 8.1% on a YoY basis. Other Income of the Bank increased to '14,495 crore in FY 2024 which was at '10,026 crore in FY 2023, thereby registered a growth of 44.6% on a YoY basis. Operating expenses of the Bank stood at '28,252 crore in FY 2024 as compared with '24,518 crore in FY 2023. Operating Income of the Bank increased to '59,217 crore in FY 2024 from '51,382 crore in FY 2023, registered a growth of 15.2% on a YoY basis.

The Bank reported a Net Profit of '17,789 crore in FY 2024 from '14,110 crore in FY 2023, grew by 26.1% on a YoY basis. The Operating profit of the Bank grew by 15.3% at '30,965 crore in FY 2024 as compared with '26,864 crore in FY 2023.

Key Performance indicators

Key Performance Indicators	FY 2023	FY 2024
Net Interest Margin - Global (%)	3.31	3.18
Cost-Income Ratio (%)	47.72	47.71
Return on Average Assets (ROAA) (%)	1.03	1.17
Return on Equity (%)	18.34	18.95
Book Value per Share (')	148.80	181.48
Basic EPS (')	27.28	34.40

Net Interest Margin (NIM) stood at 3.18% in FY 2024 as against 3.31% in FY 2023. Cost to income ratio stood at 47.71% in FY 2024 from 47.72% in FY 2023, reduced by 1 basis point(bps). Return on Assets for FY 2024 improved by 14 bps to 1.17% in FY 2024 from 1.03% in FY 2023, reflects excellent performance in profitability. Return on Equity increased by 61 bps to 18.95% in FY2024 increased from 18.34% in FY 2023. Book value per share increased to '181.48 in FY 2024 from '148.80 in FY 2023. Earnings Per share increased to '34.40 in FY 2024 from '27.28 in FY 2023.

The average cost of fund and yield of fund stood at 5.12% and 8.01% in FY 2024. Average Interest Earning asset increased to '14,05,271 crore in FY 2024 from '12,49,846 crore in FY 2023. The Average Interest Bearing Liabilities also increased to '13,26,655 crore in FY 2024 from '11,81,750 crore in FY 2023.

 

Pzinitzil Arl^mmrtx/ Rzitin

(Ratios in %)
Particulars	FY 2023	FY 2024
Capital Adequacy Ratio Basel III	16.24	16.31
CET I	12.24	12.54
Tier I	13.99	14.07
Tier II	2.25	2.24

 

Dividend Distribution

Board of Directors of the bank has recommended a dividend of '7.60 per share for the financial year ended March 31,2024. The total outgo in the form of dividend will be '3,930.24 crore. The payment of dividend is subject to requisite approvals.

Management Discussion and Analysis

Global Economy

The world economy proved to be more resilient than earlier thought in 2023-24 period, despite witnessing another major shock of Israel-Hamas war in Oct'23. The Middle East continues to be plagued with such tensions. Apart from external factors, domestic conditions have also impacted growth in each country. For instance, US economy performed much better than what was earlier expected with 2023 growth clocking in at 2.5% following 1.9% increase in 2022. On the other hand, Eurozone and Canada performed poorly. As per IMF's latest World Economic Outlook, growth in Advanced Economies (AEs) slowed to 1.6% in 2023 from 2.6% in 2022. Within this group, growth in Euro Area dropped to a mere 0.1% in 2023 compared with 3.3% in 2022. This was led by contraction in its largest economy (Germany) in 2023 (-0.2%) following 1.8% growth in 2022.

Growth in Emerging and Developing Economies (EMDEs) held up better, expanding by 4.5% in 2023, after increasing by 4.1% in 2022. Improvement in growth in China (from 3% in 2022 to 5.4% in 2023), accounted for most of the pickup in growth in this region. Revival in demand following removal of Covid-19 protocols and, along with loose fiscal policy and certain structural reforms announced helped improve growth. However, reeling property sector crisis and threat to local government financial crisis still remains.

On the prices front, global inflation softened to 6.8% in 2023 from 8.7% in 2022. Both oil and non-fuel prices fell sharply. Oil prices dropped by (-) 16.4% in 2023, following a 39.2% jump in 2022. Non-fuel prices fell by (-) 5.7%, compared with 7.9% increase in 2022. Despite ongoing tensions in Ukraine-Russia region and beginning of Israel-Hamas war in Oct'23, prices remained weak owing to elevated interest rates across countries and weak demand conditions. Inflation in AEs showed significant moderation in 2023 (4.6% versus 7.3% in 2022) compared with EMDEs (8.3% versus 9.8%).

To bring inflation under control, global central banks across the world, kept interest rates elevated in 2023 with a rate cut possibility likely in in 2024. Amongst the AEs, US Fed policy rate is currently at a 23-year high of 5.25-5.5%. Bank of England (BoE) has maintained its policy rate at a 15-year high of 5.25% and ECB has kept it at a 22-year high of 4.5%. Amongst Emerging Markets (EMs), central banks in India and Indonesia had also raised policy rates aggressively.

Global trade volumes dipped in 2023 amidst moderation in global growth and demand. Volume of goods and services trade moderated to 0.3% in 2023 from 5.1% in 2022. This was led by a sharp deceleration in volume of goods and services export of EMDEs to (-) 0.1% in 2023 compared with 4.1% in 2022. Volume of goods and services imports of AEs also declined by (-) 1% in 2023 compared with 6.7% in 2022.

 

system liquidity deficit was '11,012 crore in FY24 from '1.6 lakh crore in FY23. RBI had raised the incremental CRR to 10% back in Aug'23, this was on incremental deposits over May'19 when the withdrawal/exchange of '2000 note was announced. The objective of this step was to impound the surplus liquidity in the system.

In Nov'23, RBI had raised the capital norms for bank loans, specifically towards personal loans and NBFCs. The risk weight norms were hiked by 25 percentage points with the objective to rein in the growth in unsecured loans as well as credit cards.

RBI in the Financial Stability Report for Dec'23 noted the health of the financial sector continues to be steady amidst sustained growth in bank credit, adequate capital, liquidity buffers, strong earnings, and lower NPAs. Balance sheets of both corporate and banking sector also strengthened and this is prompting a new investment and credit cycle. Apart from this, stress tests results indicate that even under severe stress scenario, capital reserves of SCBs are expected to remain adequate and GNPA ratios are also likely to inch up only marginally. The macro stress tests conducted in the FSR notes that the system-level CRAR in Sep'24 is expected to be at 14.8 per cent (baseline), and would deteriorate to 12.2 (severe stress). The GNPA ratio of SCBs under the baseline scenario is expected at 3.1% and is expected to rise to 4.4% under the severe stress scenario. The results of the macro stress test revealed that Indian banks are well capitalized to handle any macroeconomic shocks, without requiring additional capital infusion.

EASE

The PSBs Reforms Agenda was launched as Enhanced Access and Service Excellence (EASE) in January 2018. The initial set of EASE reforms, EASE 1.0, EASE 2.0, and EASE 3.0 supported capacity building in multiple areas of banking - such as the Introduction of digital-first reforms such as “Diala-Loan”, “Credit @ Click”, technology, analytics, asset quality improvement, outcome-centric HR, and overall governance. These reforms had a significant contribution to increasing performance, transparency, and accountability across the banking landscape.

The fourth edition of EASE 4.0 focused mainly on smart lending backed by analytics; 24x7 banking with resilient technology and cloud-based IT systems; data-enabled agriculture financing; and collaborating with the financial ecosystem.

The EASE 5.0 agenda mainly focusses on Enhancing Digital Customer Experience, Data-driven Integrated and Inclusive Banking with emphasis on supporting small businesses and agriculture. Further, EASE 5.0 continues to drive progress in ongoing agendas such as co-lending partnerships, mobile banking enhancements, payments in semi-urban and rural areas, cloud adoption, digital marketing improvement through Search Engine Optimization and deepening financial inclusion.

In EASE 5.0 index, Bank has secured 3^rd position in FY 23

among all the Public Sector Banks.

The action points under each phase of EASE Programme envisaged deep-rooted transformation in approach and building new capabilities in PSBs.

EASE reforms agenda has contributed immensely towards the Bank's journey in achieving efficiency and ease of operations in almost all areas of operations, helping in providing an enhanced experience to its customers.

EASE 6.0

EASE 6.0 focuses mainly on driving excellence in customer service with digital enablement, Digital and analytics-driven business improvement, Tech and data-enabled capability building and developing people and enhancing HR Operations. EASE 6.0 is broadly divided into -4- themes consisting of a total of 22 Action Points.

Under EASE 6.0, Bank has -

•    Launched Digital Lending Journey for Retail gold loan and KCC journeys through the jansamarth portal.

•    Introduced new functionalities in QMS and promoted the usage of QMS

•    Introduced new services for MSME & NRI customers in Mobile Banking and Internet Banking platforms.

•    Enhanced the Bank's CRM module to improve the customer experience and speed up the resolution of complaints.

•    Enhanced the services provided at call centre viz., providing responses for basic inquiries of the customers through IVR.

•    Developed a deceased claim portal to settle the deceased claims through digital mode for customer convenience and improvement in TAT.

•    Launched various bundled products with additional features in both savings and current segments.

•    Various initiatives undertaken by the bank in succession planning and leadership development.

•    Launched HR connect mobile application for employees.

All through the past 6 years, EASE reform agenda has contributed immensely towards the PSBs' journey in achieving efficiency and ease of operations in almost all areas of operations, helping the Banks in providing an enhanced experience to the customers.

EASE Next (Pillar - II):

Bank-specific 3-year roadmap program: Creation of bank-specific three-year strategic roadmaps, conceptualized to each bank's starting position and business priorities, to enable reforms above and beyond the common reform agenda.

Strategic 3-Year Roadmap: As a part of EASENext's second pillar, the 3-year strategic roadmap is conceptualised. The program has been designed with a view to encourage banks

to adopt transformational initiatives that go beyond the common reform agenda.

For this purpose, 46 wide-ranging financial and non-financial metrics have been identified. Each bank will identify shortterm and long-term targets for each metric, and identify initiatives to drive improvement in these metrics.

Operating Performance & Key Ratios

The highlights of operating performance of the bank are as below:

(' in crore)
Particulars	FY 2023	FY 2024
Interest Earned	89,588.54	1,12,605.94
Interest Expended	48,232.53	67,884.41
Net Interest Income (NII)	41,356.01	44,721.53
Other Income	10,025.84	14,495.37
Trading Gains	1,062.50	1,491.93
Operating Income (NII + Other Income)	51,381.58	59,216.90
Operating Expenses	24,518.31	28,251.68
Employee Expenses	13,357.33	15,816.00
Other Operating Expenses	11,160.98	12,435.68
Operating Profit	26,863.54	30,965.22
Provisions (Other than Tax)	7,136.90	6,075.61
of which-Provisions for NPAs and Bad debts written off	4,350.52	6,470.86
Provision for Standard Advances	527.50	-688.51
Provision for Depreciation on Investment	1,704.03	-31.26
Other Provisions	554.85	324.52
Profit Before Tax	19,726.64	24,889.61
Provision for Tax	5,617.02	7,100.83
Net Profit	14,109.62	17,788.78

Net Interest Income of the Bank increased to '44,722 crore in FY 2024 from '41,356 crore in FY 2023, grew by 8.1% on a YoY basis. The Interest Income increased to '1,12,606 crore in FY 2024 by registering a growth of 25.7% on a YoY basis. The Interest Expense stood at '67,884 crore in FY 2024 which was at '48,233 crore in FY 2023.

Other Income of the Bank increased to '14,495 crore in FY 2024 which was at '10,026 crore in FY 2023, thereby registered a growth of 44.6% on a YoY basis. Operating expenses of the Bank stood at '28,252 crore in FY 2024 as compared with '24,518 crore in FY 2023. Operating Income of the Bank increased to '59,217 crore in FY 2024 from '51,382 crore in FY 2023, registered a growth of 15.2% on a YoY basis.

Total provisions (other than tax) and contingencies declined

to '6,076 crore during FY 2024 from '7,137 crore during FY 2023. Provisions for Non- Performing Assets (NPA) was at '6,471 crore in FY 2024 which was at ' 4,351 crore in FY 2023.

The Bank reported a Net Profit of '17,789 crore in FY 2024 from '14,110 crore in FY 2023, grew by 26.1% on a YoY basis. The Operating profit of the Bank grew by 15.3% at '30,965 crore in FY 2024 as compared with '26,864 crore in FY 2023.

Key Ratios
Key Ratios	FY 2023	FY 2024
Cost of Deposits - Global (%)	3.89	4.92
Cost of Deposits - Domestic (%)	4.09	4.97
Cost of Deposits - International (%)	2.37	4.57
Yield on Advances - Global (%)	7.54	8.53
Yield on Advances (Domestic) (%)	8.25	9.01
Yield on Advances (International) (%)	4.21	6.34
Net Interest Margin - Global (%)	3.31	3.18
Net Interest Margin - Domestic (%)	3.42	3.32
Net Interest Margin -International (%)	1.94	1.97
Cost-Income Ratio (%)	47.72	47.71
Return on Average Assets (ROAA) (%)	1.03	1.17
Return on Equity (%)	18.34	18.95

Cost of deposit (global) stood at 4.92% and Yield on Advances (global) improved to 8.53% in FY 2024. Net Interest Margin (NIM) global stood at 3.18% and NIM domestic stood at 3.32% in FY 2024. Cost to income ratio stood at 47.71% in FY 2024 decreased by 1 bps as compared with FY 2023. Return on Assets for FY 2024 improved by 14 bps to 1.17% in FY 2024 from 1.03% in FY 2023, reflects excellent performance in profitability. Return on Equity increased by 61 bps to 18.95% in FY2024 from 18.34% in FY 2023.

Resource Mobilisation

(' in crore)
SL	Particulars	FY 2023	FY 2024
No
I	Total Deposits	12,03,688	13,26,958
II	International Deposits	1,56,313	1,98,444
III	Total CASA	4,75,097	5,14,366
IV	Total Current Account Deposits	1,04,001	1,20,411

SL No	Particulars	FY 2023	FY 2024
V	Total Savings Bank Deposits	3,71,096	3,93,956
VI	Global CASA %	39.47	38.76
VII	Domestic Deposits	10,47,375	11,28,515
VIII	Domestic CASA Deposits	4,42,511	4,66,401
IX	Dom. Current Account Deposits	75,111	76,386
X	Dom. Savings Bank Deposits	3,67,400	3,90,014
XI	Domestic CASA to Domestic Deposits (%)	42.25	41.33

Total Deposit of the Bank increased to '13,26,958 crore during FY 2024 from '12,03,688 crore during FY 2023, there by recorded a growth of 10.20 % during the period. The International Deposit of the Bank also increased to '1,98,444 crore as on 31.03.2024 from '1,56,313 crore as on 31.03.2023, recording a robust growth of 26.95 % on a YoY basis.

The global CASA of the bank increased to '5,14,366 crore as on 31st March 2024 from the level of '4,75,097 crore as on 31st March 2023, registered a growth of 8.27% on a YoY basis. The global current deposit of the bank increased to '1,20,411 crore as on 31st March 2024 from '1,04,001 crore as on 31st March 2023, marked a growth of 15.78 % on a YoY basis. The global Savings deposit of the bank increased to '3,93,956 crore as on 31st March 2024 from '3,71,096 crore as on 31st March 2023, recorded a growth of 6.16% during the period. The global CASA % to global deposit stood at 38.76% during the period.

Domestic Deposits and Domestic CASA

Domestic Deposit of the Bank increased to '11,28,514 crore as on 31.03.2024 from '10,47,375 crore as on 31.03.2023, registering a growth of 7.75 % during the period.

Bank's domestic CASA deposits increased by 5.40% and rose to '4,66,401 crore as on March 31, 2024. Bank's Domestic CASA ratio to the domestic deposit stood at 41.33% during FY 2024. Current Account deposits registered growth of 1.70% and reached to '76,386 crore, while Savings Bank deposits reached to '3,90,014 crore with an increase of 6.15% as on 31.03.2024.

Low-cost deposit mobilization initiatives

During FY 2024, Bank opened 91.85 Lakhs new CASA accounts. Within this, the thrust was for opening of accounts in paperless mode using VCIP & TAB mode. Bank launched innovative & cutting-edge SB & CA Products viz. 3 new SB Account bob LITE, bob BRO, bob NRI Power Pack, 7 New Current Account bob Lite Current Account, bob Women Power Current Account, bob Smart Current Account, bob Gold Current account, bob Platinum Current Account, bob Rhodium Current Account, bob Diamond Current Account.

Bank also revamped existing CA & Salary SB accounts and given extensive focus in acquiring new accounts.

Special emphasis was placed on increasing the penetration of key CASA enablers, which include POS systems, QR codes with sound boxes, IP and BCMS. Additionally, efforts were made to activate dormant accounts, initiate DEAF activations, and funding of zero balance accounts.

On the digital front, the Bank has significantly increased client acquisition through various digital channels such as VCIP and TAB mode. During the FY-2024, the Bank opened 1,02,299 VCIP SB Accounts and 33,799 B3-Digital Accounts. Bank opened 2,44,582 Current Accounts in FY-2024; of which 82.11 % (2,00,844) accounts opened through TAB mode. Furthermore, 55,93,991 Non-FI SB Account opened in FY 2024; of which 66.92 % (37,43,914) accounts opened through TAB mode.

The Bank introduced the bob Parivar Concept, “My Family, My Bank,” which extends a range of benefits to family members. This initiative includes tiered offerings for Premium Customers, segmenting them based on their CASA balances into three categories: RISE, Shine, and Sparkle. Sparkle customers receive personalized services through assigned personal Relationship Managers to build strong connect and improvise the banking services.

Bank's integration with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs Portal for opening Current Accounts of newly formed companies has resulted in the opening of a total of 5,186 current accounts.

Bank has established a dedicated Defence Banking Vertical, which is headed by a Chief Defence Banking Advisor, a retired Lieutenant General. This vertical is further supported by Deputy Defence Banking Advisors who are posted at key locations to effectively penetrate the Defence segment.

Bank is leading in providing Doorstep Banking Services through the PSB Alliance Doorstep Banking Services initiative. During FY 2024, the Bank successfully completed 35,494 Doorstep Banking services.

Baroda Cash Management Services

The Bank's Cash Management Services business, Baroda DigiNext, which provides a wide range of Omni-channel digital solutions for Corporate and Government customers to manage their cash flows and liquidity, has witnessed rapid growth over the last three years. This solution is utilized by key Government Departments as well as Corporate Entities for managing their Collections. Baroda DigiNext also offers integrated and paperless payment solutions to both government and corporate customers. The Solution provides valuable real-time information on all receipts, including electronic payments, cheques, and cash deposits at all branches.

In FY 2023-24, Baroda Cash Management Services continued to rapidly expand its footprint, acquiring over 2,600 new relationships. More than 9,000 large customers are utilizing the Bank's Cash Management Services, executing over 8 Crore transactions during the year.

Credit Expansion

The Global Gross advance of the bank increased to '10,90,506 crore during FY 2024 from '9,69,548 crore during FY 2023, thereby registering a growth of 12.5% on YoY basis. The gross domestic advance increased to '8,98,116 crore as on 31st March 2024 from '7,95,560 crore as on 31st March 2023, there by marked a growth of 12.9% during the period. The international gross advance of the bank increased to '1,92,390 crore during FY 2024, from '1,73,988 crore during FY 2023, there by registered a robust growth of 10.6% on a YoY basis.

(' in crore)
Credit Portfolio of the Bank
Segment	FY 2023	FY 2024	YoY (%)
Retail*	1,78,037	2,14,942	20.7
Agriculture	1,24,247	1,38,640	11.6
MSME*	1,08,196	1,19,415	10.4
Corporate	3,40,408	3,79,747	11.6
Others	44,672	45,372	1.6
Gross Domestic Advances	7,95,560	8,98,116	12.9
International Gross Advances	1,73,988	1,92,390	10.6
Global Gross Advances	9,69,548	10,90,506	12.5
*Ex-pool purchase (Organic)

The growth in Advance portfolio was led by Retail Advance (organic) which increased to '2,14,942 crore grew by 20.7%, Agriculture advance which increased to '1,38,640 crore grew by 11.6%, MSME (organic) segment which rose to '1,19,415 crore by 10.4%, on a YoY basis in FY 2024. The retail advance including pool purchase was at '2,23,911 crore and MSME including pool purchase was at '1,25,899 crore as on 31.03.2024.

Corporate Loan of the Bank increased to '3,79,747 crore in FY 2024 from '3,40,408 crore in FY 2023, grew by 11.6% on YoY basis.

The Bank has successfully implemented many initiatives to improve its Advance Portfolio with the help of Digital Banking across segments like Retail, Corporate, Priority, MSME, Agriculture etc. Bank has launched Digital Education Loan for Executive Development Program (EDP) of Premier Institutes in India through Digital Lending Platform. Bank has launched a full-fledged Branch Officer Assisted Journey for Digital Personal Loans to conduct the end to end digital journey, which also facilitate the branches to support at different stages of the customer self- service journey. In MSME segment, Bank has integrated JanSamarth Portal with internal loan processing systems to provide, End- To- End Digital Mudra loans upto '10 lakh. In Agri portfolio, Bank has launched Digital Journey for Gold Loan to provide superior banking experience to the customers. Bank has launched digital process for renewal of BKCC loans. The Bank has

also conducted many campaigns and marketing activities at Head Office, Zonal, Regional and branch level to attract new customers in our fold. The continues focus on Branch Banking and Digital Banking together helped the Bank to expand its Advance Portfolio across the sectors during FY 2024.

Corporate Credit

Corporate credit in the Bank is serviced through 33 specialized Corporate Financial Services (CFS) & Mid Corporate branches (MCB) which manage approximately 90% of the total standard corporate credit portfolio of the Bank. The corporate credit portfolio of the Bank increased to '3,79,747 crore in FY2024 as compared with '3,40,408 Crore in FY 2023 there by recorded a growth rate of 11.6% on a YoY basis.

Credit Rating Distribution1	FY 2023	FY 2024
A and above	86%	90%
BBB	7%	5%
Below BBB	3%	3%
Unrated	4%	2%

*External Rating Distribution of Domestic Advances above '50 crore

Total portfolio comprising of A & above in FY 2024 was 90%as against 86% in FY 2023.

Corporate Banking - Revamped Structure

During the year bank has continued with its strategy to focus on Mid Corporate Advances, through -4- Mid Corporate Clusters located at strategic locations i.e. New Delhi (North), Chennai (South), Mumbai (West) and Kolkata (East) and Mid Corporate Branches tagged to them.

Target Market approach

The Bank follows a target market approach which has the following features:

•    Identification of industries / sectors for growth based on industry outlook i.e. the combined output of various industry parameters including market size, growth, demand-supply outlook, cost structure, competition, financial performance, government policies and investment outlay.

•    Sector-wise business plan for target market lending, based on exposure caps, existing exposures and further appetite for fresh acquisitions.

•    Detailed account planning with structured calling plans for meetings, identifying business opportunities, approval and closure.

•    Execution of the business plan under target market approach through dedicated relationship managers across the Bank.

facility and other retail products.

MSME Credit

The MSME portfolio of the Bank (excluding TWO, including pool purchase) increased to '1,25,899 crore in FY 2024 from '1,14,918 crore in FY 2023, registered a growth of 9.56% on a YoY basis. During the year, the Bank has taken the following initiatives to augment MSME business with improved asset quality.

1.    Formation of 330 specialized MSME Branches with exclusive team.

2.    Digitalization of MSME loan journey through the state of art “Tejas “Platform.

3.    Enhanced focus on emerging product segments leading to overachievement of Target.

•    CV/CME segment achieved 116% of the target with a YOY growth of 67%.

•    TreDs has achieved 194% of the target with a YOY growth of 173%.

•    Supply Chain Finance has achieved 149% of the target with a YOY growth of 53%.

4.    Incremental acquisition of CMR 1 to 3 accounts thus improving asset quality. It has grown from 52% in FY23 to 585 in FY24.

Additionally, Bank has achieved almost all the Target under the following key Government schemes-

1.    100% under PMMY Scheme.

2.    99.82% under Standup India.

3.    95.58 % under PM Svanidhi scheme (Disbursement against the applications received).

Retail Credit

The Retail Asset of the Bank (excluding TWO, including pool purchase) increased to '2,23,911 crore in FY 2024 from '1,87,688 crore in FY 2023, registered a growth of 19.30% on a YoY basis. The organic Retail Loans increased to '2,14,942 crore in FY 2024 from '1,78,037 crore in FY 2023, an increase of 20.73% over the previous year. Retail Assets organic portfolio constitutes 23.95% (excluding LABOD and Staff Loan) of domestic Advances as on 31st March 2024.

Retail portfolio (organic) of the Bank

(' in crore)
Retail Credit Portfolio of the Bank
Segment	FY 2023	FY 2024	YoY (%)
Home Loans1	98,014	1,11,791	14.1
Auto Loans1	31,261	38,697	23.8
Mortgages Loan1	16,801	18,715	11.4
Education Loans	8,196	9,800	19.6
Personal Loans	19,645	29,784	51.6
Gold Loans	2,420	4,546	87.9
Others	1,700	1,608	(5.4)
TOTAL RETAIL CREDIT	1,78,037	2,14,942	20.7
*Ex-pool purchase (Organic & Excl. TWO)

The key highlights of retail business in FY 2024 include:

Retail Loan advance share as percentage of total domestic loan book increased to 23.93% in FY 2024 from 22.37% in FY 2023

To ensure customer convenience and eliminating the need for physical documentation and branch visit, During the FY24 ' 8728 Crore of Personal Loan, ' 386 Crore of Auto Loan, ' 38 Crore of Top Up Loan, ' 21 Crore of Education Loan and '8.00 Crore of Pension Loan disbursed through end-to-end digital journey.

During FY 2024 fresh 1427119 Retail loan Accounts sanctioned amounting of 86,829 Crore

Auto Loan, Personal Loan & Total Retail Loan portfolio has shown excellent growth of 23.79%, 51.61% and 20.73% respectively and surpassed industry growth rate.

The bank has helped students to realise their dreams by distributing education loans amounting to '2844 Crore Out of this 41% of disbursed amount were extended to Female students.

Bank's Loan Origination system was integrated with Jan Samarth portal of Government of India for faster sanctioning of rooftop solar loans under PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana.

The GNPA in Retail Loan Portfolio (Exc. Pool and LABOD) decreased substantially from 1.50% in March 2023 to 1.20% in March 2024.

Bank has outpaced industry growth in Auto Loan, Personal Loan and Total Retail Advances.

The GNPA in Home Loan reduced from 1.56% in FY2023 to

0.98% in FY2024 through proactive monitoring and best in class underwriting.

In FY2023-2024 bank has disbursed ' 29463 Crore & ' 17733 Crore in Home Loan and Auto Loan respectively.

In Home Loan 101141, Auto Loan 173592, Education Loan 25791 and in Personal Loan 811426 new customers added in FY24.

Digitization of end-to-end process in Personal Loan, Auto Loan, Education Loan, Pension Loan, Home loan Top-up .

Strengthening collaboration with Corporate DSA, DST Channel, BCs for leads.

New Referral DSA channel was started (RDSA) and portal for submission of leads by RDSA launched.

Continuation of Retention strategy and cross-selling for Home, Mortgage loan and Auto Loan customers who are approaching other Bank.

Fixed ROI option introduced in all schemes of Baroda Car Loan

Aligned our products as per market trends and needs.

Implementation of revamped structure for processing & sanction of mortgage-based Retail Loans in RAPCs.

Education Loan ROI aligned in 98 identified institutes for overseas study.

Project Approval module implemented in LLPS.

Revised ELSC structure implemented on Pan India.

“MO GHARA” scheme implemented under Government Housing Assistance in Rural Areas scheme in Odisha State.

Education Loan ROI for premier & scholar scheme aligned with market.

Fixed ROI option introduced under Personal Loan.

Introduction of Fixed Rate option for new as well as existing borrowers in Mortgage Loan as well as Future Rent Receivables.

Introduction of Fixed Rate for Baroda pre-Owned Cars and -2- wheeler loans.

Fixed Rate option is introduced for existing as well as new Education Loan Accounts.

Introduction of Fixed Rate of Interest option in Home Loans.

PM Surya Ghar Yojana- Standalone and composite rooftop solar schemes were launched.

CERSAI Finacle API integration completed.

Business Partners i.e. DSAs & DSTs were provided a mobile application named Lead force App for quicker submission of leads into the Bank's loan processing system.

Auto review functionality was implemented for Auto loans & Personal Loan to improve the operational efficiency and productivity of branches.

Rural and Agricultural Lending

Agriculture & its allied sectors, is the largest livelihood provider in India particularly in the vast rural areas and it also contributes significantly to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Bank has a network of 8,243 domestic branches, of which 4,966 rural and semi urban branches are leveraged fully for priority sector and agriculture lending. The Bank's agriculture advances increased to '1,38,640 crore as on 31st March 2024 forming about 15% of the gross domestic credit.

Bank is the convener of State Level Bankers' Committee (SLBC) in 3 states i.e. Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan and Union Territory Level Bankers' Committee (UTLBC) in the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Bank also shoulders the Lead Bank responsibility in 75 districts across the country.

Bank continues to be one of the leaders in lending to agriculture sector, which received an impetus with the Government's vision of “Atmanirbhar Bharat”. The Bank has moved beyond granting simple farm based credit to a more diversified rural lending strategy to encourage capital generation to farmers and build a robust infrastructure in agriculture and Animal Husbandry. We are also focusing more on newly introduced products such as Agriculture

Infrastructure Fund (AIF), Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund Scheme (AHIDF), PM Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFME), Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha Evem Utthan Mahabhiyan Scheme (PM Kusum), Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana Scheme (PMMSY) and compressed biogas products.

Bank continues to focus on its flagship products like KCC, Financing to Self Help Groups (SHGs), Agri Gold Loans, Farm mechanisation (Tractor loans), Horticulture loans, Financing to Farmer Producer Organization / Farmer producer company (FPO/FPC), Hi-tech Agriculture and Food and agro-processing. During the year, the Bank has issued 4.59 lakh new Kisan Credit Card (KCC) of which 1.18 lakh are Animal Husbandry and Dairy (AHD) KCC issued to farmers engaged in animal husbandry and fisheries activities. As part of its microfinance initiatives, Bank has credit linked 1,13,726 SHGs by granting loans amounting to '4,105 crore during FY 2024.

Bank is pursuing tie ups with various private partners to enhance credit linkage of SHGs. Bank has also introduced TAB banking facility, to improve Turnaround Time and to enable hassle free instant Savings Bank Account opening for SHGs. In Tractor loans, rate of interest has been linked with LTV of Tractor for the convenience of farmers. During FY 2023-24, Bank has introduced “Baroda Kisan Pride” new product for the large farmers for scientific and progressive methods of farming for high yielding crops. Our Bank is a partner in the development of the digital KCC journey, on the Jan Samarth portal, initiated by the Government of India.

Bank had introduced Centre for Agriculture marketing and Processing (CAMP), a dedicated centralized centres for processing of agriculture loans with a special focus on nontraditional and high value Agri advances at its various zones and regions. During FY 2023-24, CAMP has sanctioned loans to 34,678 farmers, amounting to ' 3,601 Cr.

“BARODA KISAN PAKHWADA” is Our Bank's annual farmer outreach programme which is observed every year. During “BARODA KISAN PAKHWADA”, Branches of our Bank organize various functions/ events of SHG/ health check-ups of live stocks /Soil Testing and other activities/ meetings to reach out to maximum number of farmers. During FY 2023-24 “BARODA KISAN PAKHWADA” was observed from 16.11.2023 to 30.11.2023 and we have conducted 12165 farmer outreach programmes and connected 468207 farmers.

Priority Sector Lending

Average Priority sector advances of the bank increased to ' 3,01,917 crore during FY 2024 from ' 2,73,583 crore as of FY 2023 and registered YoY growth of 10.36%.

Advances to SC/ST Communities

The outstanding advances to Scheduled Caste/ Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) communities went up to '21,106 crore as of 31^st March 2024. The SC/ST communities accounted for 17.57% share in total advances granted to weaker sections by the Bank.

Further, special thrust is given by the Bank in financing SC/ST

communities under various Government sponsored schemes such as National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), MUDRA Loan, Startup India and Stand-Up India.

Gold Loan

Bank's gold loan portfolio increased to '47,629 crores, as on 31st March 2024, from '38,518 crores, on 31st March 2023, registering a growth of 23.65%. Within gold loan portfolio, Agriculture gold loans grew by 19.79%, reaching '42,921 crore (excluding TWO) in FY 2024 from '35,829 crore in FY 2023. Retail gold loan increased to '4,552 (including TWO) crore in FY 2024 from '2,419 crore in FY 2023, registering a growth of 88.16%. During the year, the Bank has added 86 new gold loan disbursing branches, taking the total number of Gold Loan designated branches to 5,990 in FY 2024 from 5,904 branches in FY 2023. The increase in spread of Gold loan designated branches across the country with share of geographies other than southern parts stands at 28.53% in FY 2024 as compared to 27.11% in FY 2023. Average ticket size of a gold loan increased to '1.74 lakhs in FY 2024 from '1.58 lakhs FY 2023. Average amount of gold loan per branch increased to '7.95 crore in FY 2024 from '6.52 crore in FY 2023. Credit quality of the Gold Loan portfolio remained healthy, with a GNPA ratio of 0.20% as on 31st March 2024.

Financial Inclusion (FI)

In order to provide universal banking services to all sections of the society especially to rural, semi-urban and urban poor at an affordable cost, Bank has taken financial inclusion as a social commitment and also an opportunity to tap business through BC model. The Bank has been actively working towards ensuring financial inclusion in the country through its branches and BC network. With the advent of technology, innovative steps are being taken for serving the unbanked areas. Bank expanded its BC network to 54,345 as on March 31, 2024 to cater to rural, semi urban, urban & metro areas across the country. Bank took the following initiatives towards promoting financial inclusion:

•    Introduced Online Loan Lead portal for BCs.

•    Launched opening of Non-BSBD Account at BC Point.

•    Launched Android based BC Inspection App for monthly inspection of BC points by officials of the Bank and BC Supervisors.

•    As a risk mitigation measure voice over in Bilingual for every transaction was introduced at BC points.

•    Opened 82 additional Center for Financial Literacy (CFL) over and above the existing 114 CFLs.

•    Introduction of Fixed Incentive to Business Correspondents.

•    Standardization of BC Working Hours - 8:00 AM to 8:00 PM

Performance highlights under financial inclusion during FY 2023-24:

•    Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) accounts increased to 616 lakhs in March 2024 from 585 lakhs in March 2023 with YoY growth of 5.29%.

•    PMJDY deposits increased to '32,337 Crore as on March 2024 from ' 27,531 Crore as on March 2023 with YoY growth of 17.46%.

•    The Bank's share among PSBs stood at 15.20% in PMJDY accounts and 17.69% for deposits in PMJDY accounts, second highest only after SBI.

•    Zero balance PMJDY accounts of the Bank reduced to 4.98% as on 31st March 2024 as against 5.22% as on 31st March 2023.

•    As on 31^st March 2024, Micro Insurance enrolment under PMJJBY scheme is 70.44 lakhs and under PMSBY scheme is 253.84 lakhs.

Performance of RRBs sponsored by Bank of Baroda

The Bank sponsors three Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) namely Baroda U.P Bank, Baroda Rajasthan Kshetriya Gramin Bank and Baroda Gujarat Gramin Bank in the state of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Gujarat respectively. The aggregate business of these three RRBs increased to '1,67,173 crore as on 31st March 2024 from ' 1,48,737 crore as on 31st March 2023 i.e. 12.39 % on YoY basis. These RRBs together posted a net profit of ' 1,121.36 crore during FY 2024, increased by 56.06 % as compared with net profit of ' 718.54 crore during FY 2023. The net worth of these RRBs put together improved to ' 6,887 crore as of 31st March 2024 from the level of ' 5,704 crore as of 31st March 2023.

Awards received by RRBs.

Our three sponsored RRBs put together bagged 43 top performing awards (BGGB -12, BUPB - 19, BRKGB - 12) under various campaigns launched for enrolment of Atal Pension Yojna from Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

Baroda U. P. Bank (BUPB) has received the award from Hon'ble President of India in New Delhi on 05.11.2023 for outstanding performance under PMFME category amongst all RRBs in India and award from Hon'ble Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh on 24.11.2023 for the Excellent Performance under SHG category.

Baroda Rajasthan Kshetriya Gramin Bank (BRKGB) has begged seven prestigious awards in the Annual Technology Awards ceremony organized by IBA on 09^th February, 2024 in the following categories;

1.    Technology Bank of the Year (for consecutive Nine year)

2.    Best Financial Inclusion (for consecutive Fifth year)

3.    Best Fintech & DPIU Adoption

4.    Best Digital Engagement

5.    Technology Talent (Runner)

6.    Best IT Risk Management (Special Mention Category)

7.    Best AI / ML Bank (Special Mention Category)

•    Won 2 awards in IBEX India BFSI Tech awards.

1. Best Technology Bank.

2. Excellence in Financial Inclusion (for RRBs/ Small Finance Bank/ Coop Bank category).

•    National Award for outstanding performance in SHG Bank Linkage 2022-23 in Northern Region.

•    Top Performer in RRB Category PAN India Level under BHARAT Campaign (15.07.2023 to 31.08.2023) for AIF Scheme.

Baroda Gujarat Gramin Bank (BGGB) has begged two prestigious awards in the Annual Technology Awards ceremony organized by IBA on 09^th February, 2024 in the following categories.

1.    Best Technology Talent (Special Mention Category)

2.    Best Technology Bank (Special Mention Category) Stressed Asset Management

The Bank believes that continuous day-to-day monitoring is the first step towards reduction in non-performing loans and in ensuring good recovery. For this, the Bank undertook various steps and formulated strategies to augment recoveries and reduce slippages.

Bank has strategies to touch each and every NPA account in a scientific manner. Hence Bank has having special skill set under an Apex Vertical ‘Stressed Assets Management Vertical', at Corporate Office. In this vertical -5- Stressed Assets Branches (SAM) were set up with special skill set to cater all accounts under National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), -12- Stressed Assets Recovery Branches (SARB Branch) at zonal level were established to handle NPA accounts other than NCLT with outstanding balance above '5 crore. These Branches are under direct supervision of corporate office to reduce TAT Further -69- Regional Stressed Assets Recovery Branches (ROSARB Branch) at Region level were established to handle NPA accounts with outstanding balance above '20 lacs to '5 crore.

Under Govt of India Digital Initiative, Bank has taken several steps for end-to-end digitalization of the entire recovery and monitoring procedure without paper movement and Real Time basis. In this connection,

1.    “QLICK” It picks several data points from FINACLE on real time basis without manual intervention and calculates Days Past Due (DPD) Report, NPA Movement Chart and Mock Runs - for forecasting daily degradations.

2.    “ILMS” Mobile app and Desktop based portal which is an online repository of entire NPA A/Cs irrespective of amount. It provides online 360-degree live monitoring of accounts without any manual intervention, like SARFAESI status, DRT/NCLT status, Provisioning, Daily Recovery, lawyers performance analysis and online submission/ sanction of OTS proposals it reduced the TAT.

3.    Bank is member of e-Bkray portal which is being used for auction of properties under Securitization and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act (SARFAESI).

4. Under EASE 4.0 guidelines, the Bank have developed and deployed automated “One Time Settlement” procedure by providing separate link on Bank's website to ensure early disposal of small ticket size NPA accounts.

Bank also adopted the following strategies for recoveries and reduce slippages.

1.    To have a proper monitoring of the portfolio of Agriculture, MSME and Retail Loans we have taken a cluster / area approach with dedicated recovery officers.

2.    Proper allocation of small NPA accounts to Recovery Agents / Feet on Street to be done by Portfolio Managers at ZO/RO level and properly monitoring them.

3.    Arranging the National Lok-Adalats & Introducing the Pre Lok-Adalat meetings for maximum participation of borrower during the Lok Adalats.

4.    Bank has initiate the SARFAESI action in all eligible NPA accounts and continue the action till conclusion / disposal of asset & recovery in the account. We are also listing/ publishing the auction property details on Bank's website, Newspaper, Radio, social media web portals and as well as leading property web sites.

The movement of NPAs during the last two years is as under:

(' in crore)
Particulars	FY 2023	FY 2024
Gross NPA	36764	31834
Gross NPA (%)	3.79%	2.92%
Net NPA	8384	7213
Net NPA (%)	0.89%	0.68%
Additions to NPAs	11150	10397
Recovery/ Upgradations	10100	4729
Write offs including TWOs	17998	10518
Recoveries in write off accounts	4781	5098
Provisional Coverage Ratio (including TWO) (%)	92.43%	93.30%
Provisional Coverage Ratio (excluding TWO) (%)	77.19%	77.34%
As per asset classification, the bifurcation of loan book is as given below: (' in crore)
Asset Category	FY 2023	FY 2024
Standard Advances	932784	1058672
Gross NPA	36764	31834
Total Gross Advances	969548	1090506
Gross NPAs comprising
Sub-standard	5439	7816
Doubtful	19182	13118
Loss	12143	10900
Total Gross NPA	36764	31834

Bank believes in Nation Building by extending hands to stressed entrepreneurs through restructuring as per RBI guidelines.

In order to address the large number of small NPA accounts, Bank had launched in FY2024 its special One-Time Settlement (OTS) scheme “Vasooli Sankalp” for settlement of unsecured NPA (DBII/DBIII/Loss) /TWO/ PWO accounts having outstanding balance up to '5.00 Crore under MSME, ' 1.00 Crore under Retail and ' 0.25 Crore under Agriculture category. The Bank recovered NPA accounts amounting to '866 crore under Vasooli Sankalp scheme.

To have better and targeted monitoring mechanism & reduction in SMA - I & SMA - II accounts of large corporate are being monitored by Stressed Asset Management Vertical in coordination with Credit Monitoring Vertical to find out the resolution and exploring all prospects of recovery, up gradation.

International Banking

The Bank has -91- overseas branches/offices across -17-countries comprising of -39- overseas branches/offices (including -1- International Banking Unit in GIFT City, Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India and -9- EBSUs in UAE), -52-branches of the Bank's -7- overseas subsidiaries. In addition, Bank has one Joint Venture viz. India International Bank (Malaysia) Bhd. in Malaysia and one associate bank viz. Indo Zambia Bank Ltd. in Zambia with -32- branches.

The Bank has presence in the world's major financial centres of New York, London, Dubai, Singapore and Australia. In addition, Bank has a wholesale branch in GIFT City (SEZ), Gujarat, India which is treated as an offshore banking unit and has chosen the branch as a centre for business growth taking into consideration the immense business potential, tax advantage, Government initiatives etc. Bank has taken various proactive steps in creating world class infrastructure for the branch in IFSC including state of the art dealing room for international treasury of global standard at GIFT city.

Bank pursues a strategy of driving growth and value by meeting the international banking requirements of Indian corporates; catering to India linked cross-border trade flows for Indian and locally incorporated companies or firms and being the preferred Bank for NRIs/ Persons of Indian Origin.

Looking into the available business opportunities, Bank has also diversified the advances portfolio by taking exposure on Non-India related syndication loans in the primary and secondary market. Also, various new products have been launched to broaden the product basket.

Further, in overseas centres, substantial progress has been made in IT up gradation for end-to-end business solution, with a focus on digitization and centralization, to improve productivity and customer experience. Bank is continuously integrating multiple platforms of technology to generate synergies.

Bank has strategically undertaken rationalization of its overseas presence based on a comprehensive evaluation framework. As part of this exercise, in recent years, Bank has closed its operations in Hong Kong, South Africa and a

branch/ office each in UAE, Oman and Mauritius. The Bank is continuously consolidating and re-organising its International Operations in line with the new global environment and focused on rebalancing the portfolio with a view to manage risks, shed low-yield assets and increase profitability.

As of March 31, 2024, the Bank's total business (net) from international branches was ' 3,83,409 Crores and constituted 16.02% of the global business. Total deposits were at '1,98,444 Crores while net advances were ' 1,84,965 Crores.

FOREIGN EXCHANGE BUSINESS

With an objective to implement high standards of compliance in line with extant regulatory guidelines with improved operational efficiency, service delivery and quality, our Bank has set up Trade Finance Back Office at GIFT City, Gandhinagar(India's 1st smart city) along with BCP set up at Bengaluru to cater trade finance services of its pan India customers. The significant developments aimed at enhancing the overall foreign exchange business in the current financial year are as follows:

•    Bank has automated cross border inward remittances below USD10000 for certain purposes. During FY 2324 we have successfully handled 59,368 transactions through Straight through processing, achieving significant improvement in TAT.

•    Bank has launched Liberalized Remittance Scheme (LRS) facility through BOB-World enabling individual customers to initiate transactions under LRS for specific purposes viz. gift / family maintenance from their Mobile. Approximately3700 transactions have been facilitated through the platform.

•    Bank has created an accessible 24/7 SMART TRADE PORTAL to its customers, enabling them to initiate inland as well as forex trade transactions from their office, reducing the necessity for branch visits. This channel has witnessed considerable growth during the year with doubling of the number of customers on-boarded and routing of 10% of the total transactions through the Portal.

•    Bank has partnered with NeSL (National E-Governance Services Limited) to issue Bank Guarantees end to end, via Digital Mode, which will increase the security and reduce TAT In this initiative, our Bank has emerged as the fastest inthe industry to issue 1,000 Electronic Bank Guarantees (e-BGs) on the National e-Governance Services Limited (NeSL) platform for the quarter ended December'23. As of March'24, our cumulative eBG issuance has doubled to2010.

•    As on 31st Mar 2024, Bank has established 13 Special Rupee Vostro Accounts for Banks worldwide to spearhead the Government of India's drive to promote INR denominated trade transactions via the Special Rupee Vostro Account (SRVA) mechanism.

•    Bank has fully centralized processing of inland trade transactions from August 2023, thereby successfully consolidating the processing of both inland and Forex trade finance transactions through the Trade Finance Back Office.

 

not only strengthen our existing relationships but also pave the way for establishing new partnerships and expanding our CASA base. As of March 31, 2024, the total Government CASA of the bank amounted to ' 55,435 crores, representing 11.88% of the total bank's CASA.

Furthermore, our dedication to innovation and technology is paramount. We offer customized IT solutions to government departments nationwide, catering to their specific needs and requirements. By leveraging technology, we enhance efficiency, streamline processes, and ensure the seamless mobilization of government CASA.

As an accredited banker to esteemed ministries such as the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Law & Justice. Our focus extends beyond transactional efficiency; we prioritize providing allied services that add value to our government partners. This includes initiatives such as facilitating the onboarding of government departments onto the PFMS Portal, actively canvassing government CASA accounts, and providing comprehensive support to branches engaged in government business.

In essence, our Government Relationships Vertical serves as a trusted partner to government entities, offering a comprehensive suite of banking services tailored to their unique needs. With a steadfast commitment to excellence, innovation, and customer-centricity, we continue to play a pivotal role in the nation's economic development and governance.

Wealth Management

Over the years, the Wealth Management Vertical continues to be a Strategic Business Unit in your Bank, with a primary goal of expanding Assets Under Management across various business lines while delivering best of class Insurance & Investment products and services to vast customer base of over 14 million through extensive network of 8200+ branches.

The industry has taken note of your Bank's dedication to Wealth Management Services, by awarding Top Performer award under the category “Equity Champions” for Banks by Cafe Mutual, for outstanding performance in the fiscal year.

To meet the needs of both retail and affluent segments, your Bank is actively recruiting and deploying skilled professionals from the market, while also ensuring that existing staff members possess the necessary certifications and knowledge to effectively serve all segments, including the non-radiance ones.

Embracing digitization is a key aspect of your Bank strategy to enhance distribution processes, aiming for efficiency and seamlessness in customer service. To achieve this, your Bank has partnered with two new aged tech companies, Zopper and Optimum Solution, to offer tailored made digital Insurance & Investment solutions viz., SmartInsure and SmartInvest. The goal of your Bank is encourage digital adoption and migrate transactions to digital channels, thereby enhancing the overall customer experience.

Your Bank always gives strong emphasis in creating a

skilled workforce and believes in maintaining an ethical and transparent sales process. To support this, your Bank has engaged three reputable training and development providers to design customized training modules for staff members, ensuring business with compliance.

In the fiscal year 23-24, your Bank achieved significant milestones, mobilizing premiums of '959 Crores in life insurance segment and '599 Crores in non-life insurance segment. Despite market volatility, with a focus on net sales the Mutual Fund AUM of your Bank stands at an impressive '13,860 Crores.

Your Bank remain committed to fostering engagement with both external and internal stakeholders through a series of unique initiatives during the years as under:

•    “Wealth Insight” - monthly e-magazine for Radiance Customers providing market outlook.

•    “Thursday Thoughts” - weekly e-mailer to spread knowledge on Wealth Business

•    “Wealth Bulletin” - In House bimonthly e-magazine of WMS vertical

•    “Leadership Chronicle”- an insightful talk show featuring prominent personalities from the banking and finance sectors.

•    “Transcend “- Wealth Management tie-up Partners Conclave - 1^st of its kind with an objective to nurture & strengthen partnership across the wealth business, outline wealth business strategy for the next 3-5 years.

•    “Expert Insight” - Webinars /Sessions on various financial aspects with market experts including decoding Annual Budget, Decoding Market Cycle, Market Outlook etc.

•    “Investogram” - A simple, easy to understand, animated guide that meticulously covers the eight vital investment cornerstones, enabling novice as well as seasoned investors to create wealth over the long term.

Digital Banking products

The Bank is committed to digitisation and continuously strives to migrate transactions to digital channels which leads to better customer experience. The major focus of digital banking is to make Bank's products available to customers through digital and alternate delivery channels. The key instruments in digital banking are bob World, bob World UPI, Baroda Connect, Debit Cards, Prepaid Cards, BHIM Aadhaar, ATM and Cash Recycler machines, Self Service Passbook Printers(SSPBP), TAB Banking, Internet Payment Gateway (IPG), Bharat Bill Payment Services (BBPS), Baroda FASTag, Bharat QR, Point of Sale (POS), etc.

bob World

During the FY2024 the Bank has been able to achieve 28.48 Lacs bob World Activations. As of March 31, 2024 a total of 306 Lakhs bob World activations have been achieved. The bank has also been able to achieve a total of 17.09 Crore Financial transactions and 228.64 Crore Non-Financial transactions through bob World during FY2024.

Debit cards

The Bank has an active card base of 9.54 crore as on 31st March 2024, an YoY increase of 15%. To increase e-commerce/POS transactions and to make Bank's debit card as the preferred card of choice for the customer, the Bank tied up with various merchants for providing lucrative offers to debit card customers and launched 35 campaigns during the period from June'23 to March'24 with various popular merchants such as Xiaomi, Zomato, Meesho, Myntra, ClearTrip, EaseMyTrip, JioMart, Tata Cliq, Swiggy, Reliance Digital, and BookMyShow.

In FY 2023-24, Bank has launched “Magalir Urimai NCMC” debit card for women in the state of Tamil Nadu. Bank's Platinum debit card base has increased to 1.62 crore as on 31st March 2024 registering an increase of 30% over the previous year.

Baroda FASTag (National Electronic Toll Collection -NETC)

Bank has issued 1.84 lakh FASTag in FY2024. Our bank has processed 4.45 crore FASTag toll transactions amounting ' 512.39 crore in FY2024.

Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS)

Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) is an interoperable platform for repetitive bill payments which offers real time bill payment and recharge services to customers. BBPS is an RBI initiative product and managed by NBBL (wholly owned subsidiary of NPCI). Our Bank is authorized as Customer Operating Unit (COU) and Biller Operating Unit (BOU) for facilitating BBPS services. In FY2024, Bank has processed 2.39 Crore bill payment transactions amounting approx. ' 5820 crore. Bank has also on-boarded Rajasthan Mahila Nidhi as a biller on Bank's BBPS systems under Loan repayment category for facilitating collection of Self Help Group (SHG) loan repayments through Bank's BBPS systems.

ATM

The Bank has wide network of 9,426 ATMs and 1,607 Cash re-cyclers as on 31st March 2024 with very user friendly screens that allow navigation in Hindi, English and the local language of the place of deployment offering a smooth experience for our customers in their day to day banking operation. Our ATMs are enriched with features such as green pin generation, National Electronic Fund transfer, Cash on mobile services where customer can withdraw money from ATM without using Debit card etc. Our Bank has launched the facility of Interoperable Card less Cash withdrawal (UPI ATM) at 7145 locations where customer can withdraw money using UPI QR services (ICCW) of Bank. As of 31st March 2024, 6517 are made live under OPEX model for seamless ATM services and enhanced customer's experience.

Internet Payment Gateway (IPG)

The Bank's IPG infrastructure bob World Merchant Gateway is an online service that is being offered to customers to conduct their business online by accepting payments securely in real time. The Internet Payment Gateway provides an interface

between merchants and their customers for secure payment processing using online modes.

bob World Merchant Gateway facilitates receiving payment online from debit/credit card, Net Banking, UPI, Wallet, AEPS, AADHAR PAX QR code etc. and offline modes i.e. NEFT/ RTGS in a simple and secured manner, which is essential for e-Commerce/online business.

To provide a seamless and customizable service, Bank has tied up with -12- aggregators and master merchants. Bank has on-boarded 1,911 merchants in FY2024 achieving a landmark of 5000+ IPG merchants base with 1.5 x growth in merchant on-boarding registering an increase of 1.4x average CASA growth from '2,091 Crores to '2,928 Crores on YoY basis.

bob World UPI:

UPI is a system that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any participating bank), merging several banking features, seamless fund routing and merchant payments into one hood. It also caters to the “Peer to Peer” collect requests which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience. During FY2024, an increase of 36% merchant on-boarding for UPI QR in comparison to FY2023. There is tremendous growth in UPI QR transactions from 6.63 Crores to 10.01 Crores.

During FY2024, Bank has on boarded 18 lacs new users on its UPI Platform.

bob World (Internet Banking):

The total number of Internet Banking users of the bank increased to 108.46 lakh during FY2024 from 99.71 Lakh during FY2023.

Baroda TabIT:

The Bank embarked upon digitizing its customer on boarding process through tablet for instant CASA opening along with bundle of services (Personalized Cheque Book, Personalized Debit Card, Mobile Banking with MPIN, SMS Alert, Internet Banking) and POS, UPI QR, IPG lead generation through its TAB banking platform - bob World Tab. Bank opened more than 37.7 lakh savings account and 2.1 Lakh Current accounts through this platform during the FY2024.

Two new modes of Savings Account opening have been introduced: Aadhaar Biometric authentication and CKYC Search & Download from CKYC Registry. Changes in existing journey of Current account has been implemented for Individual and Sole Proprietorship through TAB. These validations have helped in increasing the successful upload percentage of LEI records on CKYC Registry portal.

Additional features in account opening journey have been introduced such as SMS Alerts in 12 languages in Savings & Current Account, Customer feedback in Current Account as per EASE 6.0 Norms and Lead Generation for Demat & Trading account in Savings account.

Digital Rupee (e'): Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Merchant QR, Demat & Trading Account opening and Digital

 

 

Digital Lending

In these times, the paradigm shift in technological advancements has reshaped the global era of digitization. Almost every industry is trying to drive the change through digitization and the banking industry is on the frontline of exploration and innovation.

The financial services industry is undergoing rapid and far-reaching transformation, underpinned by emerging technologies and socio-economic drivers. This transformation is fundamentally changing market structures and opening opportunities for both incumbents & challengers to create innovative, game-changing alternative products & services.

As technology took the front seat, customers started to seek services that did not require them to travel, particularly for their routine banking needs. This evolving landscape of customer preferences led us to build Digital Lending Platform (DLP).

The Digital Platform is helping Bank to cater to existing customer borrowing needs and acquire new customers from diverse segments using digital means, enter new and hitherto untapped markets, and add a prominent digital dimension to Bank's brand identity.

The platform is empowering the borrower to complete the end-to-end loan process from lead, to sanction, and to disbursement in a few clicks with minimal including mandatory documentation using contactless and paperless process from the convenience of their homes/ office, eliminating the need to physically visit the Bank's branch.

At the core of this digital lending platform, fintech are playing a pivotal role in revolutionizing credit ecosystem by creating alternative lending channels that offer significant advantages to both Bank and borrowers.

Initiatives of Digital Lending to improve Bank’s business portfolios;

Retail Initiatives:

•    Bank has launched Digital Education Loan for Executive Development Program (EDP) of Premier Institutes in India through Digital Lending Platform

•    Bank has launched a full-fledged Branch Officer Assisted Journey for Digital Personal Loans to conduct the end to end digital journey, which also facilitate the branches to support at different stages of the customer self- service journey.

•    Bank has done various improvements in the digital journeys of Digital Personal Loan and Digital Auto Loan to improve customer experience

MSME Initiatives:

•    Bank has integrated JanSamarth Portal with internal loan processing systems to provide, End- To- End Digital Mudra loans upto '10 lakh.

Agri Initiatives:

•    Bank has launched Digital Journey for Gold Loan to

provide superior banking experience to the customers.

•    Bank has launched STP journey for BKCC up to ' 1.6 lacs on Jansamarth portal in the states of Karnataka, UP and Maharashtra

•    Bank has launched digital process for renewal of BKCC loans.

Analytics Centre of Excellence (ACoE)

The Bank continues to accelerate in data driven banking with more power and capacity. The Bank has taken strong strides and driven business value through more Machine Learning (ML)/ Statistical models and use cases across various business lines such as Digital lending, Retail /MSME assets, Retail liabilities, Wealth management, Credit monitoring, Collection, Treasury and Risk management. Further, the bank has leveraged its advance ML capabilities in Cross-Sell, Up-Sell, Early Warning Signals, Customer Segmentation, Fraud Analytics, Asset Liability Management etc. Bank is also using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies for automation of various processes viz. customer onboarding, contact centre operation, virtual agent services etc. The Bank has also been awarded with the Best AI/ ML bank- 2023 by Indian Banks' Association

Information Technology

•    Bank has implemented Cheque Truncation System under RBI's “One Nation One Grid-CTS” project, i.e. merger of three Regional Grids to a single National Grid and designating Southern Grid as National Grid of our Bank.

•    Bank has introduced Digital Allotment of Locker Portal, wherein customers can see real time pictorial representation of the locker cabinets and book the locker of their choice subject to availability.

•    Bank is consistently introducing new services on the UPI platform, such as UPI Lite, Numeric Mapper, Prepaid/ eRupi vouchers for various government entities, extending UPI transactions to Mauritius territory, Bill-Fetch and Payment for self and others, and introducing the EMI feature for RuPay credit cards issued by Baroda Financial Solutions Ltd. (BFSL).

•    Bank introduced additional functionalities in Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) referred to as e' (Digital Rupee) - Merchant on boarding for existing customer through TAB Banking, UPI Interoperability implementation. ²

•    Bank added new services/ features in Internet Banking Platform to enhance customer experience viz. e-KVP account opening, Icegate payment integration, WhatsApp registration, Quick fund transfer facility without beneficiary addition (NEFT/IMPS), Implementation of various alerts for customer awareness, various integration with state treasuries, Integration of National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) and customers can now access their lockers details.

•    Bank has upgraded /revamped the Loan Life cycle Management (LLPS) for MSME customers.

•    Bank has integrated multiple channels, including Internet Banking, Mobile Banking, BC point, Core Banking and TAB banking with Jan Suraksha Portal. This simplifies the enrolment process for customers while applying for the various insurance schemes under this portal.

•    Bank has implemented SDWAN technology across 7,100+ branches to optimize bandwidth usage and better connectivity to Branches for providing better customer service. With these continuous efforts Bank is continuously migrating VSAT branches (secondary) to MPLS for better network performance subjected to feasibility.

•    Bank is continuously enhancing Tablet Banking, and WhatsApp Banking to offer new features and services to customers i.e. launching 7 new Current Account schemes, enabling biometric authentication etc.

•    Bank has launched a Loan EMI reset Consent portal to gather consent from retail loan customers regarding the adjustment of their EMI and tenure.

•    Bank is continuously upgrading its infrastructure agility and resilience to support banking services and transactions, for higher uptime and performance.

Cyber Security

The Bank has a well-defined Cyber Security Governance framework in place that is operated through a combination of management structure, policy framework and operational controls which is aligned with business strategies of Bank for comprehensive IT risk management. To provide cyberresilience & for managing enterprise risk, Bank continuously implements adaptive security controls to mitigate risks, thereby minimizing cyber-attack surface. The Bank follows both NIST (National Institute of Science and Technology, USA) Cyber Security Framework and RBI Cyber Security Framework.

Cyber Security is being monitored and managed on 24X7X365 basis by Cyber Security Operation Center (CSOC) for monitoring active threats in Bank's environment. The Global CSOC is tightly coupled with all the verticals of the bank at domestic and international territories. It is equipped with state-of-art cyber security solutions for threat modelling, detecting, analyzing and mitigation of cyber-threats. Bank's Data Centre and Data Recovery Centre are ISO 27001:2013 certified.

 

Brand awareness and garner Business, and also to enable Zones & Regions to promote various Products and offers for Business mobilisation during this festive period.

Bank forayed into the sustainability domain through launch of ‘BOB Earth' on Foundation Day 2023 wherein Bank's all green initiatives have been brought under umbrella of ‘BOB Earth'. Bank participated in Bollywood Hungama OTT India fest in association with Hungama as Banking Partner with presence on social media platforms and on-ground event with huge participation of Bollywood celebrities and followed by young audiences across the globe. Bank promoted Baroda Radiance and Wealth Management Products to garner business and visibility.

Bank participated in IIT-Bombay's cultural fest- Mood Indigo which is Asia's largest college cultural festival which has been attracting footfall of about 146000+ students. This unique participation witnessed Bank's advertising on both digital and on-ground channels in an engaging way which resulted in business generation apart from brand visibility and generated more than 3000+ leads.

Bank ‘s participation in Govt. & Private forums under BFSI sector and at corporate events that were through CII, FIBAC, Glopac.etc.

Other events like Bollywood Music Project in Mumbai, Rambagh Golf Club at Jaipur, Literature fest at Pune .etc were targeted towards audiences interested in areas of music, sports and literature for catering to the niche audience. The Bank continuously supports the youth of the country through its various banking and non-banking initiatives. In order to reach these Millenials and sports loving youth; Bank initiated television campaigns during Men's Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 ,ICC Men's Worl Cup 2023, and India-Australia T20I cricket series.

Also, through sponsorship of various events at large scale and smaller formats across India such Ganeshotsov, Durga puja and Mirchi Rock & Dhol Garba Bank endeavour to create connect with diverse audience and garner Business. Promoted Festive campaign extensively through various BTL activities such as umbrella Branding at prominent places Labughcha Raja

Radio station (Big FM -M/s Reliance Broadcast Network P Ltd) used innovative ideas for in-show Bank's product integration across categories like Home & Car loan, Radiance, Ask Adi, etc. during iconic show ‘Antakshari'. Twice national award winning actor and anchor Annu Kapoor is a living legend who made the game show of Antakshari as one of the most memorable and iconic. Bank associated on this high audience Radio show to address captive family audience.

On the digital front, Bank continued its digital marketing efforts for business conversion leveraging on the digital journeys rolled out for Home Loan, Car, Loan, Personal Loan, MSME, etc. A total of 35+ Campaigns were executed for awareness as well as business conversions for various products & services. More than 5.85 lakhs leads were generated through Digital paid Marketing activities with approximate sanction of '1083 Crore

 

 

In Website operations, Bank has successfully revamped and centralized all its 19 websites including domestic corporate website, international territories/subsidiary websites, and the bob World website under the centralization project. In FY 2023-24 total session in website is 86.50 million and total 37.95 million users visited the website, out of total session 70% traffic is coming from Organic Sources.

The website enhanced features and functionalities now include:

•    Robust search functionality with improved voice search

•    Official blog, Lead Management System (LMS) and sophisticated calculators

•    Multilingual capabilities Advanced filters

•    WCAG 2.0, GDPR compliance, cookie management capabilities

•    Accelerating Digital Growth

•    Regularized Search Engine

•    Optimization (SEO) for all websites Set-up of analytics for data gathering, analysis and action Supporting digital marketing ecosystem with tracking and conversions. ³

Key Highlights of Website Performance:

17% Overall Traffic Improvement in FY2024

19% Organic Traffic Improvement in FY2024

The highest level of organic traffic was attained in the month

of March'24, totalling 6.1 million.

1733 Keywords securing position on 1st page.

Blog organic Sessions 83% Improvement

50+ blogs are appearing in Zero Position (Feature Snippet)

15+ blogs are appearing in Google Search Generative

Experience (SGE)

Hyperlocal Project (Location Management):

•    In November 2023, over 8,500 webpages were created for branches and offices as part of Location Management (Hyperlocal) and subsequently launched.

•    Following the introduction of the Hyperlocal Branch Page, there has been a notable increase in traffic, rising from 19,868 visitors in October 2023 to 380,000 visitors in March 2024.

MoM traffic increase in Locator Pages:

Month	Nov-23	Dec-23	Jan-24	Feb-24	Mar-24
Session	43,299	1,42,736	2,33,679	2,98,466	3,86,626

From a Public Relations perspective, the aim was to build the Bank of Baroda brand, protect brand reputation and be positioned amongst the Top 5 banks in India across the public and private sector, highlighting the Bank's financial performance, the transformation at the Bank as well as communicating other key announcements & initiatives. In FY2024, the Bank cemented its #2 rank in Media Share of Voice among PSBs, after SBI.

As the Bank continues to leverage new age digital marketing and create an equilibrium between the physical and digital marketing, the objective is to be an aspirational brand which engages, empowers and educates digital audience by providing relevant content and fulfill banking needs by constantly analyzing, measuring and improving experience, response and capabilities.

Corporate Ethics

The Code of Ethics is a landmark initiative for a Public Sector Bank in the country. We are proud to be amongst the pioneers in adopting a Code of Ethics and devising an institutional mechanism for handling ethical concerns and issues in the organization. The Code of Ethics has been benchmarked with peer organizations from around the world and has been structured on a stakeholders-centric approach with the employees at the center as the ultimate owners and drivers of culture. There is a strong alignment of the Code of Ethics with our Core Values and the Code sets out a guiding framework for how we behave with our colleagues and stakeholders and our expectations from those who work with us. The Code addresses contemporary challenges that the Bank and its employees face and outlines the responsibilities

they carry when addressing emerging critical issues in areas like cybersecurity and climate change.

The Banking industry has seen a lot of challenges with the changing times but amidst these, ethics and trust remain at the core of the industry on any given day. The Code gives us the strength to do what is “RIGHT” and will help to enhance our Bank's brand and reputation. The Bank's leaders have been supporting the cascade of the Code through multiple employee engagement events.

Apart from conducting round-the-year education and awareness programmes and devising metrics for measurement of Ethics, one of the most powerful strategies for ensuring the success of our ethics agenda is developing effective channels of communication and towards this endeavour, the ‘Speak Up!' initiative in line with the Code of Ethics was organized which highlights the channels available in the Bank to raise complaints and issues against unethical practices. Further, a quarterly in-house journal - ‘Baroda Sanskriti' - is published with creative contributions from the employees. Regular Snippets from the Code of Ethics, quizzes, competitions, bilingual audiobooks on COE and other digital communications like the initiative- ‘Naitik Series' - videos on ethical dilemmas also ensure better awareness of ethics. A focused training programme was devised on Corporate Ethics for the branches which were downgraded to high risk during the year. As part of the Bank's Ethics Agenda -05- Ethics Counsellors were appointed in the field in June 2023, for each of the Zonal clusters - North, South, East, West, and Central, who would help in disseminating the Corporate Ethics message in the field and guide employees in case of ethical dilemmas/issues. The Bank launched ‘Living the Values!’-Vol 1' e-booklet on the Bank>s Foundation Day 2023. This is one of its kind initiative under the series <Living the Values' which comprises of inspiring short stories of our fellow Barodians that exemplify our core values in action. The stories are categorized under each of our core values viz., <Integrity>, <Customer Centricity>, <Courage>, <Passionate Ownership>, <Innovation>, and <Excellence>.

Webinars, dedicated training programmes, and mandatory e-learning courses on Ethics being conducted for all staff members ensure that the Code of Ethics is cascaded to all employees and strengthen the culture of ethics and transparency in our Bank.

By creating a corporate culture that encourages employees to behave ethically and speak up against unethical practices, we expect our organization will be able to deliver powerful Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) outcomes that addresses the interests of all our stakeholders.

Customer Service

The Bank constantly endeavours to set industry benchmarks and pioneer innovations across products, processes and service delivery that are imperative to providing seamless experiences to its customers. Customer interactions in 15 languages & through all possible modes like Voice (IVR/ Voice bot /Agent), Video call, Web chat, Email are continuously monitored across channels and channel capabilities (functionalities and the user experience) were enhanced

to ensure ease of banking from home. The Bank ensured time to time addition of AI & Generative AI based features to improve customer's satisfaction with efficiency. Apart from Hindi and English, the language capability was increased to thirteen regional languages.

The highlight of Contact Centre:

1.    The contact centre handled 1.43 lakh average inbound customer calls per day during the year and over 1.13 lakh calls daily responded to through IVR.

2.    Average more than 1.16 lakh outbound calls per day for sales and surveys.

3.    Bank is handling around 78% call on IVR which is highest in industry

4.    Contact Centre provided emergency services to 6 overseas territories i.e. Botswana, Mauritius, Uganda, Oman, Fiji & Seychelles.

5.    24³7 FRMS alerts reviewed by Contact Centre and by immediate blocking the channels saved 2000 +crore customer money from further fraud.

6.    IN I4C bank has handled 1.56 lac alerts and saved the highest customer money in PSU.

7.    Contact center has initiated many new functionality like-Call back, B'day wish

8.    Manty special helpdesk at Contact Centre for exclusively helping the NRI/HNI, bob World internet and bob World mobile banking related issue, Complaints, PMJDY

9.    Contact Centre is providing 24 IVR services and 26 services through agents 24³7

10.    First in industry contact centre started live Video call and live web chat facility for customers.

11.    Now contact centre is equipped with many AI-based technologies like Speech Analytics, Social Media Tools, Automated Email Tool, Genie training Tool, AURA call quality Tool, Work force management, smart dashboard and many more technologies.

During FY 2024, the Bank saw significant improvement in the usage of remote channels for managing grievances. Approximately 94.7% of the grievances were resolved within the pre-defined turnaround time. The Bank not only focussed on improving the quantitative performance indicators of grievance redressal but also on improving the quality of resolution to improve customer satisfaction. Service levels across the network of branches are monitored through mystery shopping/service audits and workshops. General Manager, Operations and Services, is designated as Principal Nodal Officer for customer complaints in the Bank. Moreover, all zonal heads and regional heads are designated as nodal officers for their respective zones and regions. Further, the names of respective nodal officers along with their contact numbers are displayed in all the branches of the bank. The Bank has appointed an Internal Ombudsman which is a forum made available for the grievance redressal of customers before they approach the RBI Ombudsman. All complaints,

which are rejected or partially accepted by the Bank, are systematically escalated to the Internal Ombudsman for review. This enhances customer confidence in the Bank's systems and expedites the process of grievance redressal, thus making it even more transparent.

The Bank's code of commitment to customers and MSMEs, citizen charter, grievance redressal policy, and RBI Integrated Ombudsman scheme are available on the Bank's website to promote fair banking practices by maintaining transparency in various products, services and policies. At the Board level, the subcommittee of the Board for Customer Services addresses the issues relating to the formulation of policies and assessment of compliance with the same with the aim of consistent improvement in the quality of customer service.

Bank's ChatBot “ADI” is already functional on its website. ADI assists customers in navigating through various pages of the website while providing an interactive experience to the customers. A few features of “ADI” are an instant response to our customers' queries, convenience to chat, available 24*7, digital assistance, and a seamless chatting experience. Bank has also tied up with True Caller services for outbound sales calls. This means that whenever a call is made via an authorized phone no. of the bank, Bank's Logo and a “blue tick” will be visible to the customers on their phone screens, thus assuring the customers that the call is genuine. This will also prevent customers from falling prey to fraud.

The Bank has also changed its toll-free number. It is now an 8-digit number instead of the earlier 11-digit number. This was done after it had come to notice that fraudsters obtain a number similar to Bank's toll-free number and try to dupe customers posing as Bank officials. This has been done with a view to safeguard our customers from vishing.

Handling Customer Complaints

Customers can very easily lodge their complaints directly with the Bank by visiting its website of the Bank and clicking the appropriate link. Alternatively, the customers may also call the toll-free number and get their complaints lodged in the CRM portal of the Bank. Customers also have the option of sending their complaints to Branches and other offices via any mode. All the complaints will be entered into the CRM portal. The complaints are automatically addressed to the concerned resolver based on the category of complaint selected at the time of lodging the complaint.

Bank also has an Internal Ombudsman mechanism in place, as per regulatory guidelines, to instil confidence in the customers regarding the resolution of their complaints.

Bank has also implemented an Online Dispute Redressal (ODR) mechanism for the speedy resolution of online transaction relate complaints. Also, the blocking of Baroda Connect facility has been extended via Interactive Voice Response System (IVR) in the contact centre.

To monitor the quality of resolution being given to the customers, Bank subjects 100% of Non - ADC complaints and 5-10% of ADC complaints to quality check. The outcome of the quality check is shared with the concerned resolver group. To make the process of quality check more efficient

and less laborious, the Bank, in collaboration with IIT -Bombay has developed an AI Tool, which will assess the quality of redressal, thus reducing the time and manpower required.

Branch Network

As of March 31, 2024, the branch network of the bank is as under:

	FY 2023		FY 2024
Overseas Branches	Number of Branches	% Share in Total	Number of Branches	% Share in Total
Metro	1,787	21.79	1,789	21.70
Urban	1,471	17.94	1,488	18.05
Semi Urban	2,075	25.31	2,094	25.41
Rural	2,867	34.96	2,872	34.84
Total	8,200	100.00	8,243	100.00
Overseas Branches/ Offices (including branches of overseas subsidiaries)	93		91

The Bank opened new 61 domestic branches and merged 18 branches with existing branches during FY 2024.

Currency Chests

The number of currency chests stood at 138 as on 31st March 2024. These chests support effective cash management in the Bank as well as vaulting cash on behalf of RBI. All the currency chests as well as branches are provided with Note Sorting Machine (NSMs) as per RBI guidelines.

Risk Governance and Internal Controls

The increased focus on risk and the supporting governance framework includes identification, measurement, monitoring and controlling of risks as well as ensuring that risk-taking activities are in line with the Bank's strategy and risk appetite. Often referred to as the “three lines of defense”, each of the three lines has an important role to play. These are:

i.    First line of defense - This comprises of the Business verticals and Operating units, as they are required to own and ensure the effective management of risk and compliance with regulations, Bank's policies and guidelines.

ii.    Second line of defense - This comprises of the risk management function and compliance function. It is responsible for identifying, measuring, monitoring and reporting risk on an enterprise-wide basis independently from the first line of defense.

iii.    Third line of defense - An independent assurance is provided by the internal audit function by conducting internal risk-based and other audits. The reviews provide assurance to the Board that the overall governance framework, including the risk governance framework, is

effective and that policies and processes are in place and consistently applied. The role of audit function is defined and overseen by the Audit Committee of the Board.

Risk Management and Compliance

Risk Management and Compliance are integral part of the banking business and the Bank aims to achieve an appropriate trade-off between risk and returns. To ensure sustainable and consistent growth, the Bank has developed a sound risk management framework so that the risks assumed by the Bank are properly assessed and monitored. The Bank undertakes business activities within the defined risk appetite limits and policies approved by the Board of Directors of the Bank. Specific committees of the Board have been constituted to facilitate focussed oversight on various risks. The Board has also constituted a Risk Management Committee of the Board which oversees the different type of risks. It is supported by specialist Risk advisor on Board. Policies approved from time to time by the Board of Directors or committees of the Board form the governing framework for each type of risk.

Basel III Framework

The Bank's risk management framework rests firmly on the three Basel pillars, i.e. Pillar I- Capital Adequacy, Pillar II- Supervisory Review and Pillar 11 I-Market Discipline. The Bank is strengthened by a healthy level of capital. The Bank maintains adequate levels of Common Equity Tier I, Additional Tier I and Tier II Capital including required Capital Conservation Buffer. Futuristic capital projection ensures that the Bank is always ready to raise additional capital from the market as per business necessity. The position of risk weighted assets is constantly under strong vigil by the credit risk and capital adequacy team. Adequate capital and rationalised risk weighted assets ensures strong Capital to Risk Weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) for the Bank.

The Bank has a comprehensive Internal Capital Adequacy Assessment Process and Stress Testing Policy in place. Capital Adequacy is assessed considering Pillar 2 risks such as Liquidity Risk, Interest Rate Risk, Concentration Risk, etc. and stressed conditions (under both normal and adverse scenarios) as per the extant guidelines. A brief outline of the mechanism for identifying, evaluating and managing various risks within the Bank is given below:

Enterprise Risk Management

The diversity of the Bank's business lines requires a comprehensive Enterprise Risk Management approach to promote a strong risk management culture to help in the early identification, assessment, measurement, aggregation and management of all risks and to facilitate capital allocation among various business lines. All material risk appetite limits are approved within the overarching Risk Appetite Framework and are adequately hedged. Moreover, the Risk Appetite limits are in alignment with the Business Projections.

The bank has instilled a robust risk culture across its organization, ensuring that all three lines of defence are equipped to effectively manage risk. Roles and

 

internal ratings are validated by independent rating validating authority.

The Bank has put in place prudential caps across industries, sectors and borrowers with an objective to build a resilient portfolio and de-risk from portfolio concentration. The Bank has developed in-house models for risk assessment of various Countries, State Governments, Group Borrowers etc. and setting exposure caps. As a part of enhanced exposure monitoring, quarterly reviews are carried out for the Bank's key exposures, segments, industries and sectors. A dedicated team tracks internal & external developments to assess impact on the portfolio performance and recommend pro-active remedial actions. The Bank also conducts comprehensive Thematic review comprising sector outlook & other event-specific impact studies. Bank has taken initiatives for automation of CRAR and Exposure computation.

Adequate attention is given to the independence of the risk evaluators and business functions for establishing a sound credit culture and a well-structured credit approval process.

Market Risk

Market Risk implies the risk of loss of earnings or economic value due to adverse changes in market rates or prices of trading portfolio. The change in economic value of different market products is largely a function of change in factors such as interest rates, exchange rates, economic growth and business confidence. The Bank has well defined policies to control and monitor its treasury functions which undertakes various market risk positions.

Mid-Office as a part of Risk Management, measures and monitors interest rate risk in its trading book through risk limits like modified duration, PV01 and Value at Risk (VaR) on a daily basis. The foreign exchange risk is measured and monitored in terms of Net Overnight Open Position limits (NOOPL), VaR limits, Individual Gap Limits (IGL), Aggregate Gap Limits (AGL) and total Aggregate Gap Limit (TAGL) on a daily basis. Equity price risk is measured and monitored through VaR limits and portfolio size limits, etc. At a transaction level, stop loss limits and dealer wise limits have been prescribed and implemented as per the extant guidelines of the Bank. MidOffice also conducts back testing of the VaR numbers on a daily basis. Under its stress testing framework, the Bank conducts comprehensive stress tests of its trading book portfolio on a quarterly basis. Risk-return analysis of treasury trading portfolio is also conducted on a quarterly basis. The market risk capital charge for the Bank is computed by mid office as per the Standardised Duration Approach (SDA) in line with the regulatory guidelines.

Asset Liability Management

Liquidity Risk is the inability to meet expected and unexpected cash and collateral obligations at reasonable cost. In the Bank, the liquidity risk is measured and monitored through Flow Approach and Stock Approach and other prudential stipulations as per the latest guidelines of the RBI. The Bank has implemented the Basel III Framework on Liquidity Standards - Liquidity Coverage Ratio (LCR), Liquidity Risk Monitoring Tools and LCR Disclosure Standards. The LCR

standard aims to ensure that banks maintain an adequate level of unencumbered High - Quality Liquid Assets that can be converted into cash to meet liquidity needs for a 30-calendar days' time horizon under a significantly severe liquidity stress scenario. The Bank has always been well above the stipulated level of LCR on a solo basis as well as on a consolidated basis. The RBI has also introduced NSFR (Net Stable Funding Ratio) with effect from 01st October 2021 which promotes resilience over a longer-term time horizon whereby Banks are required to fund their activities with more stable sources on an ongoing basis. The NSFR seeks to ensure that Bank maintains a stable funding profile in relation to the composition of its assets and off-balance sheet activities. The Bank's NSFR has been well above the stipulated level of 100%.

Interest Rate Risk in the Banking Book (IRRBB) arises due to mismatch between rate sensitive assets and rate sensitive liabilities which may adversely impact the earnings/economic value of equity of the Bank with the change in interest rates in the market. For measurement and monitoring of interest rate risk in banking book, the Bank uses risk management tools such as Traditional Gap Analysis, Earning at Risk and Duration Gap Approach. The short-term impact of interest rate movements on Net Interest Income (NII) is worked out through the ‘Earnings at Risk' approach by taking into consideration parallel shift in yield curve, yield curve risk, basis risk and embedded options risk. The long-term impact of interest rate movements is measured and monitored through change in Market Value of Equity.

Operational Risk

The Bank has a well-defined Operational Risk Management Framework (ORMF) and Operational Risk Management System (ORMS) for effective management of Operational Risk in the organization. ORMF comprises the organizational structure for management of Operational Risk, Governance Structures, Policies, Procedures and Processes whereas ORMS consists of the systems used by the Bank in identifying, measuring, monitoring, controlling and mitigating Operational Risk. The Bank has a web based Operational Risk Management System for data capturing and for systemic and integrated management of Operational Risk. In our endeavour to use the best of technology, we have procured a web based Operational Risk Management System for Operational Risk Compliance & Governance. Monitoring of Key Risk Indicators Programme (KRI), Risk & Control SelfAssessment Programme (RCSA) and Root Cause Analysis of various loss incidents strengthen the control environment. The Bank has created a repository of Internal Loss Data as part of Operational Risk Management. Ongoing review of products and processes in the light of the changing business environment further strengthens the risk culture. Efforts are made for inculcation of risk culture, values, beliefs, knowledge, attitudes and understanding about risk among the staff. In order to ensure this, Campaigns are carried out to create awareness in the staff by the means of emails, workshops, on-the-job trainings, webinars, meetings, fliers, magazines, E-Learning modules etc . Furthermore, through strategic utilization of social media platforms, initiatives have

been deployed to increase customer awareness regarding prevalent fraud incidents, accompanied by actionable guidance to mitigate susceptibility to such fraudulent activities.

Business Continuity Plan

Bank has a detailed and effective Business Continuity Management (BCM) framework in place for ensuring continuity of operations and rendering customer service at the Branches and Offices during disruptions. The framework is in line with the guidelines issued by RBI and global best practices. The Bank continuously works towards strengthening the business continuity preparedness. Through the exhibition of the Business Continuity Plan, the bank provides customers with the assurance that their services will persist in being dependable and secure, even in the face of adversity. Bank optimises resource allocation with Business Continuity Plan. Basis the understanding of risks, Business Impact Analysis (BIA) being conducted and enabler dependencies mapping for all the critical processes helps banks allocate resources more efficiently, investing in resilience-critical areas and cutting non-critical spending. The Bank has ISO 27001:2013 certified Data Centre and Disaster Recovery site. Bank's Disaster Recovery site is capable of handling the CBS and other functions of the bank in case of any disruption at Data Centre.

Compliance

Compliance function in the Bank is one of the key elements in its corporate governance structure. The compliance function in the Bank is adequately enabled and an independent function. The compliance function ensures strict observance of all statutory provisions contained in various legislations such as Banking Regulation Act, Reserve Bank of India Act, Anti Money Laundering Act etc. as well as other regulatory guidelines issued from time to time. It also ensures adherence to the Bank's internal policies and fair practices code. The Bank has compliance policy, outlining the compliance philosophy of the Bank, role and set-up of the compliance vertical, composition of its staff and their specific responsibilities.

The compliance function advises senior management and the Board on the position of Bank's compliance with applicable laws, rules and global standards and keeps them informed of developments in the area. It also educates employees about compliance issues by conducting periodic training and workshops for business staff and designated compliance officers. Knowledge management tools has also been uploaded on the Bank's website. The Bank has implemented a web-based compliance management solution for certification and monitoring of various regulatory, statutory and internal guidelines at each level in the Bank for further strengthening the compliance function. The Bank has also automated the process for obtaining information from the “Insiders” as defined in the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Code of Fair Disclosure and Conduct.

Amongst several activities, the domestic compliance function conducts on-site compliance test checks on more than 101 parameters on KYC-AML guidelines and other parameters of

compliance through Regional Compliance Officers (RCOs) by using web-based tool - Onsite Compliance Testing and Reporting System. As many as 25% branches are randomly selected on a quarterly basis. Bank also conducts onsite compliance test check of various functions on half yearly basis. Off-site compliance test check of around 52 parameters on issues related to KYC/AML guidelines and other parameters of compliance is carried out on a monthly basis through the web-based tool - Offsite Compliance Reporting and Monitoring System. The above activities helps in maintaining a robust compliance posture of the Bank.

An annual group wide compliance plan is prepared and regular monitoring is carried out for ensuring adherence to the plan. Bank also undertake Compliance Risk Assessment (CRA) of the Bank annually by sourcing the parameters from RBI's Tranche-III data template, Onsite/Offsite/Vertical Test check reports etc. and derive CRA score. Bank also uses CRA matrix to prepare Risk Oriented Activity Plan for timely compliance of non-complied Regulatory parameters.

Bank has also taken various new initiatives such as creation of Data Analytics Cell (DAC) for data dump analysis in order to identify the gaps in the system and processes and to take corrective action. Product analysis is carried out to ensure that the new / existing product is working as per the expectation and fulfilling all Regulatory guidelines. Similarly, Circular vetting is done to ensure that the guidelines issued by the vertical commensurate with the RBI / Statutory guidelines. Moreover, some Important Regulatory and/ or Statutory guidelines had been identified, being of prime importance, since any breach in these guidelines may invite adverse observation of the Regulator. These guidelines are termed as Key Compliance Indicators (KCI) and monitored at periodic interval to take corrective action immediately incase of breach/deviation. These activities shall help the Bank in further strengthening the compliance posture of the Bank.

Bank has also developed a portal to collect the data from field functionaries on penalties, displeasure letters, warning letters, etc. on real time basis. It enables the Bank to monitor the data centrally and to take corrective action immediately.

In the process of capacity building, the Bank imparted training to all compliance officers and nominated officials to various external training programmes conducted by reputed institutions on latest developments in the areas of compliance. In order to promote professionalism, the Bank is encouraging staff members to pursue professional courses from reputed institutes like Indian Institute of Banking and Finance (IIBF), Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) etc.

There were no significant incidents reported during FY 202324 relating to compliance failure other than a monetary penalty of '4.34 crore (Rupees Four crore and thirty four lakh only) for non-compliance with certain directions issued by RBI on ‘Creation of a Central Repository of Large Common Exposures - Across Banks' dated September 11, 2013 read with ‘Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) - Revision in Reporting' dated February 13, 2014, ‘Loans and Advances - Statutory and Other Restrictions',

and ‘Reserve Bank of India (Interest Rate on Deposits) Directions, 2016'. Further, onboarding of customers onto the ‘bob World’ mobile application is suspended based on certain material supervisory concerns observed in the manner of onboarding of customers onto mobile application with effect from 10^th October 2023.

KYC/ AML Compliance

The Bank has a well-defined KYC-AML-CFT policy. On the basis of this policy, KYC norms, AML standards and CFT Measures and obligations of the bank under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) 2002, are implemented. The Bank electronically files Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs), Counterfeit Currency Reports (CCRs), Non-profit organizations Transaction Reports (NTRs) and cross border wire transfer (EFT) reports to Financial Intelligence Unit India (FIU-IND), New Delhi on its portal every month within prescribed timelines.

The Bank has an established Central Transaction Monitoring Unit (CTMU) and put in place AML Solution for monitoring of transactions and detection of suspicious activities in customers' accounts on the basis of predefined alert parameters in the system. System based risk categorization (money laundering risk categorization) of customers' is done on dynamic basis. For Periodic Updation of KYC (ReKYC), Bank has developed an automated process for identification of customers due for ReKYC and sending SMS/email/ physical notices to notify them to complete their ReKYC. Bank also provides Digital / Non-Face-To-Face channels to the Individual customers to complete their Re-KYC without visiting their Bank branch.

Bank has implemented Central KYC (CKYC) process for registration of newly on-boarded customers' KYC information on Central KYC Registry. CKYC number was allotted to 736.08 lakh customers as of March 31,2024.

Bank has also implemented Video based Customer Identification Process (V-CIP) as an alternate method of establishing the customer's identity for on boarding new Resident Indian Individual customers.

Internal Audit

The Bank's Central Internal Audit Division headed by General Manager / Chief General Manager administers various types of Audits i.e. Internal Audit, IS Audit, Credit Audit, Concurrent Audit & Management Audit. Internal Audit function in the Bank is an independent activity and has sufficient standing and authority within the Bank. The Internal Audit Department, works under the guidance and supervision of the Audit Committee of the Board. Bank's Internal Audit Function works in close co-ordination with other Assurance functions i.e Risk Management Department & Compliance Department.

Bank's Central internal Audit Division operates through -22-Zonal Internal Audit Divisions to carry out internal Audit of Branches / offices as per the periodicity decided by RBIA Policy. All Branches, Centralized Units, Administrative Offices are covered under Risk Based Internal Audit. The summarized risk perception of all 8242 Branches & Specialized Integrated Treasury Branch as on 31st March 2024 are as under:

•    Low Risk Branch - 6933 Branches (84.11 %)

•    Medium Risk Branch - 1006 Branches (12.20 %)

•    High Risk Branch - 262 Branches (3.18 %)

•    41- Branches with no Rating (New Branches)

•    Specialized Integrated Treasury Branch was in Low Risk.

Total -1216- Branches and other units are covered under Concurrent Audit covering Bank's 51.02 % Deposit, 70.20 % Advances & overall 59.51 % Business coverage. All Category B Branches, Currency Chests & Centralized Processing Cells are covered under Concurrent Audit.

Credit Audit is carried out of all Fresh Sanctions/ Existing Accounts including Retail Loans and Restructured Accounts with aggregate exposure of '10.00 Crores and above (FB + NFB) and 5% of borrower accounts are randomly selected from fresh Accounts and Reviewed with increase having aggregate exposure of '1.00 Crore above but below '10.00 Crores (FB + NFB).

All Bank's branches are subjected to Information System (IS) Audit to assess the IT-related risks as part of the RBIA of the Branches. IS Audit of Data Centre & IT Applications are also carried out periodically by a team of CISA /DISA qualified IS Auditors and external CERT-in Firms.

Few Key initiatives include the following:

•    Revised framework of Concurrent Audit is implemented and Daily & weekly Report is introduced apart from existing Monthly Reporting.

•    Audit Automation Software is implemented for Audit, tracking of Compliance & Dashboard.

•    Centralized Exceptional Monitoring Unit is established for ongoing monitoring of exceptions as per system data based on pre-defined logic under -70- parameters.

•    Offsite Surveillance Cell is established for offsite surveillance and data analysis as per different scenarios.

External Review of Internal Audit Framework is carried out by External Firm as and when felt necessary. Last such assessment was carried out by M/s E & Y LLP during FY 202223 and as per their assessment Internal Audit Framework in Bank is robust and one of the best in peer Banks.

Credit Monitoring

Monitoring of the credit portfolio is essential to maintain and improve the asset quality of the Bank and minimize credit risk. The main objective of Credit Monitoring function is to maintain asset quality, ensure Compliance of sanction terms and end use of funds. It must ensure that the credit assets remain in regular category, to make endeavour for upgrading asset quality of identified stressed accounts and take corrective action to prevent slippage of the accounts. The Department has been using various tools and methods for identifying and monitoring stressed accounts with signs of weakness/ potential default/ delinquencies to ensure good asset quality coupled with containment of probable slippages effectively.

Tools for efficient monitoring & control process: -

Early Warning Signal: A fully tech based EWS solution is implemented in our Bank since August 2020. Our EWS system is fully automated with inbuilt well-defined workflow providing a complete solution. Alerts are generated based on both internal (CBS and CREMON) and External Data (MCA, news feeds) sources. The alerts generated in an account helps the Bank for identifying incipient weakness and initiate proactive timely remedial measures. The solution helps the Bank in early identification of RFA/fraud in accounts (if any). This solution also enables the branches to closely monitor the accounts with appropriate resolution/ action. During the current financial year, the Bank has revamped EWS portal with adding more features to improve its efficiency and effectiveness to identify stress and early delinquencies in the accounts. In addition, a Health Parameter (HP) has also been introduced for borrower which is a combination of internal rating (BOBICON) and EWS rating of a borrower. Further, EWS portal for international territories has also been launched for better monitoring of advances of our overseas branches.

CRILC Reporting: Identification of the accounts in SMA category triggers mitigating steps, such as follow-up for regularization, restructuring etc. In terms of RBI's guidelines, stressed accounts with credit exposure of '5 crore and above are reported to RBI on CRILC platform on a weekly basis.

Analytical Dashboard: Bank has devolved various analytical Dashboard for identification of stressed accounts (Viz SMA Dashboard, Future Demand Dashboard, Collection efficiency Dashboard, Technical stress Dashboard for focused monitoring.

System based prediction of Asset Classification: Bank has a predictive program to identify the probable slippages showing overdue of more than two months period based on record of recovery as well as for accounts showing technical irregularities such as non-submission of Stock/Book Debt statement, review pendency, insufficient/ no credit in CC accounts, inadequate margins in LABOD/ODBOD accounts etc. These triggers focus on taking timely corrective action to prevent downgrading of such accounts. Those accounts are monitored specifically by various operational units for minimizing the slippage of standard assets.

Credit Audit: The purpose of Credit Audit is to ensure compliance of pre and post disbursement terms of sanction terms/ covenants, whether the disbursing officer, before parting with the Bank's funds, has taken all necessary measures for creation/ perfection of security with a view to ensure enforceability of the said securities as per sanction terms. This facilitates prompt corrective action, wherever required, without waiting for the regular Audit/ Inspection, which usually takes place with a time lag. Credit Audit is integrated with the Core Banking System/Finacle to monitor it on real time basis.

Stock Audit: We ensure that Stock & Receivables audit is conducted timely as per given periodicity in all the eligible accounts and active/ preventive steps are taken wherever warranted. The stock audit is applicable for standard advance

accounts having working capital exposure of '1 crore and above. It is required to be conducted annually for such accounts with exposure below '5 crore, while for accounts of '5 crore and above, it is to be conducted on a half yearly basis. Assets showing inherent signs of weakness, such as out of order position, overdue Bills under Letters of Credit, invocation of guarantees, review overdue etc., which pose a threat to the Bank's asset quality, are followed up at various platforms & levels.

Daily classification of SMA or NPA: The Bank has automated system for identification of borrower accounts as SMA or NPA as part of day-end process for the relevant date to have better transparency in identification of asset quality as per RBI guidelines.

Other monitoring tools:

•    Bank has appointed Agency for Special Monitoring (ASMs) for specialized monitoring in accounts of '250 crore & above for verification of transaction monitoring, inspections etc.

•    The Bank has also digitized the stock and book Debt statement submission, which is real time and user friendly.

•    The Bank has also initiated many tools in credit monitoring for robust monitoring like GST ITR & Statement analyser to analyse, track and monitor the borrower's accounts periodically.

•    Digital monitoring reports at pre-determined period are regularly evaluated & taken up for corrective measures wherever required in respect of big accounts of '1 crore & above.

•    Bank has launched a Dashboard to monitor the cases of DLP violation to improve credit discipline.

Vigilance

The Vigilance administration in the Bank is professionally managed and an integral part of management function. It promotes clean business transactions, professionalism, productivity and ethical practices apart from control, monitor and supervision of various vigilance functions. The Bank has a very strong and transparent Vigilance Administration headed by Chief Vigilance Officer who oversees all vigilance functions of the Bank as per the guidelines from the Central Vigilance Commission. Participative / Proactive & Preventive vigilance are the important functions of Bank's vigilance administration. The Chief Vigilance Officer is supported by Additional Chief Vigilance Officer.

The vigilance machinery in the Bank also imparts knowledge at all levels about vigilance functions, extends help to various disciplinary authorities and appointing authorities to act swiftly and correctly in examining issues arising out of frauds, complaints and serious irregularities pointed out in various inspection reports of branches/ offices.

Vigilance setup at Zonal level conducts preventive audit of all branches at regular intervals and to act proactively on information controls the damage at bare minimum level.

The vigilance function in the Bank consists of three sections:

1.    Preventive Vigilance: Preventive measures hold greater significance in containing damage than detection and punishment of corrupt and other malpractices. Preventive measures such as inspections of sensitive areas of business, identification of sensitive posts and scrutiny of personnel posted thereon, ensuring observance of conduct rules, monthly meetings at branch level to discuss branch specific vulnerabilities, training programs for staff, regular scrutiny of inspections and audit reports and circulars on preventive vigilance regularly issued and circulated by various business verticals were undertaken to reduce the number of vigilance cases.

2.    Detective Vigilance: Detective Vigilance includes conducting regular and surprise inspection in the sensitive area to detect if there have been any instances of corrupt or improper practices by the staff, undertaking prompt scrutiny of annual property returns and take further action if called for, gathering intelligence from own source about the misconduct / malpractices, examining the same for logical conclusion through appropriate action after due process.

3.    Punitive Vigilance: In addition to ensuring that employees at all levels indulging in willful and mala fide transgressions of rules and provisions are not allowed to go unpunished, the Bank also ensures that bona fide decisions taken in normal course of business are evaluated objectively and with required prudence.

The vigilance function in the Bank enables proactive decisions by stressing on strengthening systems and procedures through preventive vigilance administration. It also plays a major role in identifying and plugging loopholes and providing inputs to the top management in framing policies in fraud prevention. The turnaround time of disciplinary cases improved due to proactive communication which helped in motivating the employees with quick redressals.

Legal Service

The Bank has a vibrant legal department consisting of qualified and experienced legal officers. The main role of the Legal Department is to support and to provide assistance for various matters relating to Opinion, Documentation, Litigation, etc., referred by or in relation to various functional departments of the Bank. The department also provides support for references submitted by the various Zones, Regional Offices, domestic and foreign branches, and subsidiaries of the Bank on the matters related to legal aspects.

Further, in order to meet the digitalization of banking loan process, a set of documents for retail and SME facilities compatible with digital lending platform has been prepared which will enable Bank's customers to execute the documents through electronic means. Loan Document Manual has been revisited and simplified the documents.

In order to pace with the digitalization process, “Portal for Vetting of Loan Documents” has been developed with the help of IT Department to ease the process by enabling the

Law Officers to attend the same from their office without physically visiting the Branches. The portal was launched on 28.04.2023 and made mandatory for vetting of documents as per Bank's Global Credit Policy through the Portal only. Phase II of the portal is under process, which will include the provision for uploading of documents pertaining to ‘Review with Increase, ‘Takeover of account from other bank/FI', ‘Consortium' and ‘Creation of security after disbursement'.

Additionally, in the existing Advocate Portal, second phase with regard to assignment of work and reviewing advocates' performance are made available.

Further, the Department has been promoting environment of knowledge sharing by issuing ‘Circulars', ‘Legal News Flash', etc. regarding ever changing set of laws, latest amendments and interpretation of laws by Courts affecting the Banking sector. In association with APEX Academy and a reputed Law Firm, initiated Training program for Law Officers to groom them in specific legal fields as well as to make them conversant with ever changing enactments, rules and regulations.

As on 31.03.2024, total pending cases (Litigation Against Bank) before the various Courts/Forum/Tribunals are 3608. We succeeded to get disposal of total 873 cases during financial year 2023-24. Out of total disposed of cases 618 cases (i.e. 70.8 %) were decided in favour of Bank, 62 cases (i.e 7.10 %) were settled and 193 cases (i.e 22.10 % ) were decided against Bank. Further, 10 cases (having monetary value more than one crore and above) out of total decided cases were also disposed of during the Financial Year 2024.

Human Resources Management

Bank considers its employees as most valuable asset. Bank has a talented workforce of over 74000 employees. The Bank has initiated various capacity building programmes to retain and groom its talent pool which is aligned with the aspiration and growth story of the Bank. In order to infuse fresh blood and new talent, Bank is following a comprehensive plan to ensure that the recruitment process is strategic and effective, aligned with the organization's long-term goals. Bank is also onboarding external talent in strategic areas to supplement the existing human capital.

The Bank has taken proactive steps in maintaining positive employee relations, addressing workplace issues, resolving conflicts and fostering a positive workplace environment. Timely revision of perquisites and benefits, revision of employee policies with more employee centric provisions and initiatives in the direction of maintaining employee wellness and fitness, workplace counselling, engagement activities, life cycle based training programme have been undertaken to create robust and competent workforce which is fully engaged to meet the dynamic challenges of the Banking industry.

Bank has resorted to various measures to rightfully engage the talent and the same has resulted in better financial performance. Bank's initiative in this direction has been recognized by the industry and Bank has been awarded for ‘Best Community Impact Initiative' under Employee

Happiness Award by Kamikaze B2B Media. Bank has also been certified as ‘Great Place to Work' for the second time in a row by the Great Place to Work Institute India.

In addition to the above, the following important employee centric initiatives have also been undertaken during the year, which bear a direct and significant impact on Bank's performance.

Learning and Development

Bank of Baroda believes that employee development is an integral part of the organization's strategic plan. The Bank endeavors to create a learning organization and to build organizational capability for setting performance standards. The Bank believes in creating career principles and utilizing a mix of available channels to impart training.

More than 58,326 Bank's employees received training through the Apex Academy, 18 Zonal Academies and 4 Baroda Satellite Learning Units, along with eLearning through Baroda Gurukul in this financial year which helped in improving their performance.

In FY 2024, Bank has leveraged its Learning Management System (Baroda Gurukul) to facilitate learning and development across the Bank, which has helped Bank to align training needs as per business goals and ensuring compliance. Significant utilization of digital process and LMS platform helped Bank to impart learning to staff in timely manner and extending benefit of cost optimization to shareholders.

The Bank has designed role based specialized training programmes for Business Heads viz. Regional Heads / DRMs / Branch Heads etc. The Bank has been placing a strong emphasis on the acquisition of new age skills and IDP based training to enhance its human capital. In line with this, it has introduced simulation games that replicate real-life business scenarios to better educate its staff. To further enhance the learning experience, the Bank has adopted a blended learning approach that combines traditional and digital methods, with 365*24 availability.

In a collaborative effort to synergize external resources and promote a hybrid learning model, the Bank has partnered with prominent organizations such as AAFM, CRISIL and NIIT to provide training to its Wealth Management Executives. This pilot phase will allow the Bank to refine its approach and fine-tune the training process to better serve the learning and development needs of its employees.

Overall, the Bank is committed to providing its employees with the necessary training and development opportunities to succeed in their roles and achieve their career aspirations.

Coaching and Mentoring Programme

In order to create a future proof leadership pipeline for various critical roles, a scientific succession plan has been adopted whereby a sufficient succession pool of executives for each of the critical roles has been created. Bank has also resorted to Competency Assessment of its executives and Individual Developmental Plans have been created for

enabling them in taking up higher assignment. Bank has also initiated Coaching & Mentoring Programme for its executives by way of engaging internal as well as External Coaches for this purpose.

Career Progression

Concerted efforts have been taken by the Bank for fostering career progression of employees for rewarding them for their performance and motivation. Horizontal movement of officers across different functions and overseas placements opportunities are provided to employees for wider exposure.

‘Voice of Barodians’ - Employee Engagement Survey

As an employee centric organization, Bank firmly believes in participating in a two-way communication with employees for sharing views & experiences and to chalk out better ways of accomplishing our organizational goals. Bank has been conducting ‘Voice of Barodians' Employee Engagement Surveys along these lines over the last few years and based on the survey outcome, has fine-tuned the existing policies and practices, launched new initiatives for the benefit of our employees. As per the outcomes of the latest ‘Voice of Barodians' Employee Engagement Survey carried out in March 2024, the overall employee engagement score for the Bank stood at 71%.

Baroda Anubhuti Program

To enhance employee engagement at all level, Bank has introduced Baroda Anubhuti Program which has been designed with an objective of augmenting ‘Employee Experience' through various ‘Engagement Activities'. These activities aid in fostering the team spirit and belongingness at every level of the Bank, resulting in improved employee engagement and better financial performance.

In furtherance to being certified as Great Place to Work, Bank also focuses on its responsibility towards the society. Every year on the occasions of Bank's Foundation Day on 20^th July and the Republic Day, various Community Service Activities were carried out and all employees wholeheartedly participated in these activities. During the year 2023-24, Bank has carried out following CSR activities under Baroda Anubhuti Program:

•    Blood Donation - more than 18,000 units of Blood

•    Distribution of Saplings/ Tree Plantation - around 49,500 saplings planted

•    Cleanliness Drives - more than 4,000 drives in various localities

•    Distribution of materials and miscellaneous items to poor and needy - more than 1,00,000 items

•    Distribution of materials and miscellaneous items to old age homes, orphanages, disability centres etc. - more than 77,000 items

•    Conducting Health Check-up Camps - more than 8,000 people were covered

•    Renovation of Iron Bridge to Kadamakudy Island Village in collaboration with Indian Navy - Ernakulam

Employee Wellness Initiatives

As an organization with progressive HR practices, Bank has always placed a strong emphasis on the well-being of its employees and has consistently implemented initiatives to inspire them to lead healthier lifestyles. This commitment to employee wellness is rooted in our belief that the health and happiness of our staff members are fundamental to our collective success. We believe that by fostering a culture of well-being, we are not only enriching the lives of our employees but also strengthening the overall vitality and resilience of our organization.

Every year Bank is celebrating November as ‘Wellness Month' for our employees during which various wellness programmes viz. Yoga Classes, Online Webinars & Talks with experts on Health and Wellness issues are being organized to sensitize the employees for maintaining better mental and physical health.

Bank has entered into tie-up with leading hospitals where employees can undergo comprehensive Health Check-up along with their spouse, the cost of which is being reimbursed / borne by the Bank.

Employee Assistance Programme

Bank has introduced ‘Workplace Counselling' for the employees under the ‘Employee Assistance Program' (EAP) helping employees seek counselling for mental health issues and coping mechanisms.

During calendar year 2023, a focused outreach program was conducted in association with ‘EAP India' (the service provider) by conducting workshops for the employees on the topic ‘From Stress to Strength: Using Emotional Intelligence to Thrive under Pressure'. More than -100- workshops were conducted across the country covering 4,600+ employees.

Employees have utilized EAP India's counselling services to overcome their issues related to their mental and psychological health. These counselling services were facilitated through multiple channels such as face-to-face counselling, phone-call and video conferencing, emails and chats. Additionally, online support groups were formed on Women Empowerment, Parenting support and Addiction support aiding self-generating solutions within the groups.

Further, in order to raise awareness about mental health issues, Mental Health Roadshows “Road Trip to Happiness” in Mumbai and Vadodara were organized featuring mental games, recreational activities, movie time and nutritionist counselling.

School Tie-up for admission of Children of employees

In continued pursuit to be an employer of choice and as a part of employee centric initiative, Bank has entered into a tie-up arrangement with two renowned and reputed chain of schools having PAN India presence viz. ‘Ryan International Group of Institutions' and ‘VIBGYOR Group of Schools' which enables hassle free admissions to the wards of the employees at the time of their relocation on transfer.

Thrust On Diversity & Inclusion

Bank is committed to create diverse workforce and follows a non-discriminatory and equal opportunity policy for all its employees and is transparent in all issues relating to promotion, career path, transfer policy and employee benefit / welfare schemes. The Bank has also put in place a DEI Policy for promoting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Further, in recognition of the concomitant responsibilities of women, the Bank has put in place various facilities to support women employees such as Sabbatical Leave, Health Check-up programme for women employees, establishment of Creche facility etc. among other initiatives.

The Bank has put in place special provision for deployment of women. Bank has also taken Women centric initiatives under Bank's Employee Assistance Program for creating a nurturing environment for women to come together to share experiences, exchange knowledge and uplift each other in both personal and professional aspects of life, discussing and addressing issues like self-care, burnout, workplace, and personal challenges etc. and Counselling to women employees joining after career break (post Maternity/ sabbatical leave) to help our lady employees in coping with the emotional and logistical challenges associated with returning to work. The Bank is working on Work from Anywhere option to lady employees post expiry of maternity leave.

The Bank conducts special training programme on capability building and motivation for its women employees and also creates awareness on POSH guidelines.

Ex-Employees

To acknowledge the invaluable services rendered by exemployees & to recognize their contribution, the Bank extends several welfare schemes to them such as Holiday Home facilities, consultation with Part Time Medical Consultants of the Bank, Special Medical Aid & Reimbursement of Medical Insurance Premium paid by them.

The Bank is always considerate towards bringing convenience to its retired staff members. Hence, in order to make HR services convenient for them, important services like generation of Pension Pay Slip, PPO, Tax computation, Holiday Home booking and submission of TE/DA claims is integrated in HR Connect application which can be accessed on mobile 24x7.

Reservation Cell

An exclusive cell has been functioning to monitor the reservation and other enabling provisions for employees belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC) /Scheduled Tribes (ST) / Person with Disabilities (PWD) /Ex-Serviceman (Ex-SM) and Other Backward Classes (OBC).

Executives in the rank of General Managers are appointed as Chief Liaison Officers for SC/ST/PWD and Ex-Serviceman employees and for OBC employees respectively who ensure compliance of various guidelines pertaining to them.

With effect from 1^st February, 2019 reservation of 10% for Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) in direct recruitment in the Bank was implemented.

The Bank provides reservations for Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) at the rate of 4% of the total vacancies arising in officer, (identified posts), clerical and sub-staff cadre in a year, as per Government guidelines.

Caste category wise count as on March 31,2024
Cadre	Total	GEN	SC		ST	OBC		EWS
Officer	42067	18916	7422		3317	12386		26
Clerk	25996	10907	4273		2695	8053		68
Sub staff	6164	1814	2009		610	1731		0
Total	74227	31637	13704		6622	22170		94
% to total staff strength		42.62	18.46		8.92	29.87		0.13
Cadre				PwD			Ex-SM
Officer				1090			605
Clerk				1037			3040
Sub staff				114			506
Total				2241			4151
% to total staff strength				3.02			5.59

Periodical Meetings: The Bank holds Quarterly meetings with the representatives of All India Bank of Baroda SC/ST (AIBOBSCST) Employees' Welfare Association and Half Yearly meetings with the representatives of All India Bank of Baroda OBC Employees' (AIBOBOBC) Welfare Association, for addressing their concerns.

Workshops and Training Programmes: Bank conducts following training programmes every year for members of AIBOBSCST Employees' Welfare Association and AIBOBOBC Employees' Welfare Association and Liaison Officers of SC/ STs and OBCs at its various training academies:

•    Pre-promotion training for SC/ST/OBC candidates.

•    Workshop on reservation policy.

•    Training programme on disciplinary proceedings. Document Management System

The Bank is one of the pioneer PSBs in initiating implementation of Document Management System (DMS) (First among PSBs to implement Records Digitisation) by engaging professional companies to manage the records with an aim to give our Branches a leaner look having better feel and experience to our customers. Under Records Management System (RMS) physical records are barcoded, indexed and moved to Vendor's warehouse for storage thereof, which can be retrieved any time as per Bank's requirement. The space which is unlocked, is being utilized for customer service efficiency, better branch ambience etc.

Document Management System (DMS), is a major step towards paperless banking under green initiative, encompasses scanning of identified documents (Loan Files/ HR documents/Legal documents and other critical documents) and uploading the scanned data on “Baroda Document Management System (BDMS) server, a digital repository.

This is an ambitious project of our Bank under which around 56.60 Cr images have so far been scanned covering more than -7042- branches/offices. Also, around -3.19- lac sq. ft. of space has been unlocked in identified Branches of the Bank.

After successful implementation of Records Management System (RMS) / Document Management System (DMS) in Bank's Metro & Urban and identified branches of Semiurban, it is now being implemented in the remaining 1530 Semi-Urban and Rural Branches /offices of the Bank.

Premises Re-engineering

•    Could create State of the Art Office for IFSCB Unit at GIFT City, Gandhinagar.

•    Renovation of Bank's Heritage Building at MMO, Horniman Circle, Mumbai, creating space for accommodating around 160 Staff.

•    Construction of Bank's Commercial cum Residential Building at Ramnagar, Coimbatore been completed.

•    Construction of 5 RSETI Buildings completed.

•    Over 95% of eligible procurement were made through GeM Portal (1263 Crores).

Green/other Initiatives

•    177- Branches in rural/semi urban areas being run on Solar Energy reducing approx. 3500 Tons of Carbon Dioxide Emission.

•    Installed Solar Panels in several Leased & owned Premises of the Bank. Installed capacity 293 KW in owned Buildings & 1.3 MW in Bank's leased premises.

•    Solar Panels of Capacity 35 Kwp installed at Bank's Zonal Office at Mangalore.

•    Bank has set up Rain Water Harvesting system in 18 Administrative Buildings.

•    Waterless Urinal (276 Nos) installed in several Administrative Buildings saving approx. 30 lakh Liters of water a year.

•    Tree Plantation- 43499 No. of trees/sapling planted in Schools, parks, residential societies etc. - PAN India during the period 15.11.2023 to 15.12.2023.

•    Digitization of Security Reports & Returns though Bank's IT Team

•    Conducted Fire drills at all High-rise Buildings of the Bank all over India.

•    Health Checkup camps for staff members in tie-ups with various Medical Centers/Hospitals conducted.

•    24*7 Ambulance facility at BCC.

•    Annual Sports Day organized in the month of Nov 2023 involving all the staff members along with their families.

•    Implementation of Self Booking Tool (SBT) for Air Ticket Booking at BCC, Mumbai.

Implementation of Official Language (OL) Policy

Use of Hindi and other Indian Languages for promoting business as well as providing digital products to the customers is a significant characteristic of the Bank's Official Language policy. This approach has been well appreciated by Government of India and regulatory authorities from time to time. Your Bank adopted a well-structured Annual Action Plan for Official Language in order to achieve various targets set by the Government of India under its Annual Implementation Programme 2023-24 and the assurances given to the Committee of Parliament on Official Language during its visits to various offices/branches of the Bank.

The Meetings of Central Official Language Implementation Committee, presided over by MD & CEO/ Executive Director of the Bank, were organized regularly on quarterly basis and various new initiatives were taken during the year FY 202324. Your Bank has made remarkable progress to provide Mobile Banking and transactional SMS services in Hindi and 11 other regional languages. Whatsapp Banking service and Internet Banking services are available to our customers in Hindi too. As a new initiative during the period under review, Bank's Chatbot facility, Digital lending platform, BCMS portal and BC knowledge portal have been made available in Hindi also. All the auto generated emails from various apps and digital channels/portals of the Bank and loan sanction letters containing terms and conditions generated through Bank's LLPS package have been made available in bilingual i.e. Hindi & English.

As a part of various initiatives taken during the year, Town Official Language Implementation Committee (TOLIC), Vadodara, working under the convenorship with your Bank, organized a national seminar on ‘Importance of ESG in Corporate Sector: Present and Future'. Representatives of member offices of all TOLICs functioning under Regional Implementation Office (West), Mumbai participated in the event.

Bank had introduced official language rating system for Branches/ offices and ‘Bhashayi Choupal' programs for staff members, the same were continued during the year. Bank's Self-service Passbook printing machine ‘Kiosk' were enabled for printing of Passbook in Hindi for the convenience of customers. Your bank has created a ‘Shabdnaad' page on the Bank's website. This page will preserve records of various Official Language (OL) related activities conducted by the Bank at Corporate Office and also in the entire Bank, awards and other OL related information pertaining to the Bank.

Your Bank has published the articles received for the All India Seminar on ‘Digital Loan' in the form of e-book. Your Bank conducted different campaigns on quarterly basis to increase Hindi correspondence in various departments of the zones (viz. Marketing, Recovery, Security, Mortgage). Hindi Diwas, World Hindi Day and Mother Language Day were celebrated at various offices/branches all over India and abroad. In order to enhance the creative skills of staff members, your Bank is publishing two corporate magazines - BobMaitri (House Journal) and Akshayyam (Hindi Magazine). Your Bank is continuously working to enhance the feature of ‘BOB

Abhivyakti 2.0' mobile app, designed for all serving and retired staff members to provide an interesting online reading experience with respect to all magazines/newspapers/ house journals published by the Bank including Bobmaitri and Akshayyam. It has proved to be a significant step in promoting the Go-Green initiative in the Bank.

While providing digital banking facilities to customers, your bank is offering the facility of sending SMS in Indian languages in all the Financial Inclusion accounts. Your bank is providing WhatsApp banking services in English, Hindi and Gujarati languages. Your Bank has made the HR Connect portal fully bilingual for the use of staff members. Bank's Hindi website has been given an attractive look which is contributing to significant increase in its hits. Your Bank has provided customers the facility to opt for SMS and WhatsApp Banking facility in their own language at the time of opening an account through tab banking. Your Bank has introduced bilingual (Hindi and English) digital journey facility for opening savings account online. Besides, keeping in mind the highest number of calls received in Hindi language at the Contact Centre, your Bank has organized a language training programme for the staff working in contact centre. Your Bank has developed YouTube videos and PPT of various banking products in Hindi language for customer awareness. Further, your Bank has ensured translation of all Bank's promotional materials in Hindi and other Indian languages on a regular basis. Your Bank has ensured to post Hindi content on social media handles from time to time befitting the occasion.

Your Bank conducted an internal survey from 05.12.2023 to 10.12.2023 on various parameters among the staff members of the Bank regarding the quality and utility of the Hindi version of the internal circulars issued by the Bank to obtain feedback on the nature of language of the circular. Your Bank also conducted a survey regarding availability of Bank's digital channels in Indian languages to get feedback about the Indian language user interface of our digital channels and get a useful data on their quality, usages etc. Based on the suggestions received in these surveys, necessary corrective action is being ensured by the Bank.

A “Samarth Toolkit/Branch Samarth” (Technical Toolkit) has been developed by the Bank to promote implementation of Official Language in your Bank and to sensitize staff members about various e-tools for working in Hindi and regional languages. The training for staff members on this tool was continued during this year also. In addition, various programs/ competitions were also organized in schools/colleges across the country to connect with the young generation of our country, which helped the Bank to strengthen its brand image among the younger generation and mobilize/increase business.

The efforts of your Bank have been appreciated by the Government of India from time to time. During the year, your Bank was awarded with the second prize under the “Rajbhasha Kirti Award” scheme of the Government of India for its outstanding performance in the field of Official Language Implementation. In addition, the Town Official Language Implementation Committee (TOLIC), Vadodara working under the convenorship of the Bank was awarded

 

with the first prize under the Narakas Rajbhasha Samman Yojna. Similarly, Varanasi, Jaipur and Bareilly, TOLIC working in convenorship of the Bank were selected for the award by the respective Regional OL Implementation Offices of the Government of India. Our Zonal Offices Baroda, Chandigarh and Navsari Region were also awarded for their outstanding performance in the field of Official Language implementation by the respective Regional OL Implementation Offices of the Government of India. Your Bank was conferred with a total of 15 awards by the Ministry of Home Affairs in the year 202324 which includes Kirti/Regional and other awards. Various offices of the Bank received a total of 35 awards from TOLIC, working under the aegis of Ministry of Home Affairs. 5 staff members of your Bank were declared as winners of the Kanthasth-2.0 competition organized by the Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Official Language (among the total declared winners).

Your Bank has ensured the regular meetings of the 29 TOLICs working under the convenorship of the Bank and compliance with the instructions laid down by the Government of India in this regard. Bank continued with its unique scheme “Medhavi Vidyarthi Samman Yojana” for popularising Hindi in 71 Universities of the country. Under this scheme, cash prizes and commendation certificates are given to two meritorious students securing first and second positions respectively in M.A. (Hindi) examinations every academic year.

Overall, your Bank is committed to fulfil its constitutional responsibilities regarding the use of Official Language and other Indian languages for regulatory compliance, business development and customer convenience.

Sustainability - ESG - An environmental friendly approach

The Bank recognizes the pressing importance of addressing climate change and acknowledges global warming as one of the most significant threats to businesses and communities worldwide. In recent times, climate change risk has emerged as a critical challenge for the financial industry. In response, the Bank is deeply comm i tted to minimizing the impact of climate change risk a nd actively working towards the sustainable development of its banking operations. Our objective is to achieve economic growth while ensuring the preservation of environmental and social ecosystems.

As a responsible policy measure, the bank strictly adheres to guidelines that prohibit financing borrowers involved in the establishment of new units producing or consuming Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS). Similarly, small and medium-scale units engaged in the manufacturing of aerosol units using Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) are not eligible for Bank financing. These measu r es align with our commitment to reducing the greenhouse effect and contribute to a more sustainable future.

To strengthen our commitment to sustainability, the Bank has established the CSR and Sustainability Committee at the Board level. This committee plays a pivotal role in implementing sustainable strategies and integrating responsible Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices throughout the organization. Furthermore, a

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

The Bank has a long legacy and tradition of actively contributing to the social and economic development of the communities through various development activities. The Bank as a responsible corporate citizen, continuously strives to contribute towards social welfare & environmental protection, particularly for the upliftment of the underprivileged sections of the society to make sustainable social changes in their lives. Skill development through training for gainful employment, human welfare and other social activities like women welfare, health care etc continues to remain the Bank's key focus areas. The Bank is helping different organizations engaged in various community development and socioeconomic welfare activities for the benefit of weaker sections and rural citizens.

The Bank has 65 Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) in 11 States/UTs across the country to impart skill development training to the youth of rural and semi urban areas for generating self-employment. Since inception, these centres have conducted 24,263 training programmes and imparted training to 6.76 lakh youth, out of which 4.65 lakh have already setup their own ventures or have secured wage employment. Out of -65- RSETIs, -64- RSETIs are graded as “AA” (outstanding) by Ministry of Rural Development, GOI based on the overall performance/functioning and -1- RSETI

i.e. RSETI Pasighat will be rated during FY 2024-25 being new RSETI.

The Bank has also set up 85 Financial Literacy Centres (FLCs) in 12 States/UTs which provide financial counselling services and education to the people in rural, semi-urban and urban areas about various financial products and services available from the formal financial sector. These centres also take up activities that promote financial literacy, awareness about banking services, digital banking, financial planning and amelioration of debt-related distress of an individual.

As per RBI directives, Bank has also set up 196 Centres for Financial Literacy (CFLs) spread across -9- states and -1- Union Territory that are aimed at imparting financial literacy in tribal and backward blocks through innovative and participatory approach.

Bank has also donated to various social causes viz., financial assistance to deserving poor students for their education, donation of medical equipment and healthcare, donation towards smart classes, donation of water coolers and RO systems for hospitals and donation towards relief fund in cyclone affected areas.

Domestic Subsidiaries and Joint Ventures

BOBCARD Limited

BOBCARD Limited (formerly known as BOB Financial Solutions Limited) was established in 1994 as a Non-Banking Financial Company, wholly owned by the Bank. Its primary business is in credit cards with key differentiator being simple, easy-to-understand products that are fairly priced, efficiently serviced, and can easily be availed through a digital-all application process.

FY 2024 was a continued year of growth for BOBCARD consolidating its industry position and budling seamless integration with parent Bank. As per RBI data for FY24, the company continued with steady increase in share across cards and spends in the credit card industry. We rank 9^th in terms of market share of cards with a share of 2.5% and with a spends share of 1.5%, BOB Card ranks 11^th in terms of monthly spends.

The company issued approximately 10.9 lakh new credit cards in FY24 and continued to be among the largest issuers in terms of incremental customer acquisition. The company further consolidated its two-pronged growth strategy (of BoB customers on one side and key partnerships on the other) by focusing on growing both portfolios i.e. proprietary cards, where the focus in FY24 has been on paid and premium cards to diversify the composition, and co-branded cards, where the focus has been on growing the customer base.

Credit Card on UPI (CC-UPI) was launched for RuPay Credit Cardholders in May 2023. More than 1282 (count) have been spent on CC-UPI in FY24 with ever highest spends milestone of ' 221 crores achieved in March 2024.

The company continued to invest in technology for enhancing customer experience and improving products and processes. Virtual Credit Card, new versions of the Mobile App, Launch of Visa empower card & Rupay Business Card and automation of key processes were some of the highlights of FY24.

The company launched over 2K offer communications across 50+ spend categories to its cardholders during the festive months. These offers were across regular and EMI spends. Multiple communication channels, including social media, were used to reach customers across the country. BOBCARD also launched rebranding announcement with the thematic campaign proposition ‘Remember to Reimagine.' Refreshed all brand assets to adopt a new visual identity, serving as a catalyst to amplify our new brand identity and drive awareness & consideration.

Brief Highlights of BOBCARD limited for FY 2024 (IGAAP financials) are indicated below:

(' in crore)
BOBCARD Ltd.
Particulars	FY 2023	FY 2024
Total Assets	3,520.45	5,217.15
Net Profit/(Loss) for current FY	24.62	59.27
Net NPA levels for current FY	68.55	32.65
Credit rating	Crisil A1 +	Crisil A1 +
	India rating A1 +	India rating A1 +
Return on Assets	0.71%	1.14%

BOB Capital Markets Ltd.

BOB Capital Markets Ltd. (BOBCAPS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda, is a SEBI registered Category-I Merchant Banker and also a Stock Broker with memberships of National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

BOBCAPS offers a wide spectrum of financial services that includes fund raising from primary markets /PE funds, debt syndication, stressed asset resolution, equity valuation, mergers and acquisitions advisory and stock broking (both institutional and retail). It has two operating segments, viz. Investment Banking and Broking & Distribution.

BOBCAPS continued to receive good traction for its businesses during FY 2024. Investment banking team successfully closed several transactions including marquee IPOs, QIP debt resolutions, debt syndication, DCM and M&A advisory. IB Equity successfully closed IPOs of IREDA & IRM Energy which were over subscribed. This has led to earning of deal credentials which is important for securing new mandates. The Company incurred a loss, largely on account of creation of technology & Account acquisition infrastructure. Both Instituitional & Retail Broking business revenue have grown significantly with focus on revenue. The retail client base has doubled during the year & the Company is revamping its entire retail technology platform to scale up business.

Brief Highlights of BOB Capital Markets Ltd for FY 2024 are indicated below:

BOB Capital Markets Ltd
Particulars	FY 2023	FY 2024
Total Assets (in Crore)	179.34	169.00
Net Profit/Loss for FY (in Crore)	1.25	(12.50)
Customer base (Nos)	1,00,929	2,08,768
Total number of branches (Nos)	3	3

Baroda Global Shared Services Ltd.

Baroda Global Shared Services, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Bank of Baroda, is an outcome of a strategic decision made by the Bank in 2017 to integrate back-office services into a single entity, thereby, reducing service replication & business unit silos, creating synergies, and improving economies of scale.

BGSS locus is in creating value for the parent Bank through reduced cost-to-income ratio, reduced credit losses, new business generation & client retention.

In line with this objective of value creation for the Bank, FY2024 was a year of consolidation & growth with focus on expansion & operational excellence while emphasis on continuous evolution. Continuous improvement cerebration coupled with robust risk & governance framework is enabling BGSS to follow its growth trajectory which is evident from BGSS topline CAGR growth of ~56% (since FY2020).

During the financial year, the organization has been involved

in implementation of several marquee transactions/projects

including:

1.    Certified as Great Place to Work - (GPTW 24-25).

2.    DST business had witnessed a turnaround in profitability with productivity improvement & keeping COA under control and resulting in an enhance value for the Bank.

3.    Collections Tele-Calling- SMA 0 POS resolution increased to '62,000 Cr in FY2024 from '53,000 Cr in FY2023.

4.    Forayed into international territories with launch of BOB UK Data Enrichment & Contact Centre operations.

5.    Process re-engineering through deployment of automation & Lean Six Sigma methodology and enhanced productivity /efficiency of ~10% Y-o-Y (centralized operations).

6.    ISO 9001:2015 Certification across 9 processes completed meeting process quality standards.

7.    ISO 27001:2013 certification & deployed SOC (Security Operations Centre) exhibiting BGSS commitment to information security.

8.    Operational resilience & robust governance through ISO 22301:2019 BCMS Certification.

9.    Annual CSAT survey was conducted with 92.8% of the audience appreciating BGSS performance and following in Excellent & Very Good category.

10.    Augmented learning culture and introduced an integrated LMS (Learning Management System) platform for Digital Learning Academy.

11.    Improved Gender Diversity (26%).

12.    Extended support to the Bank by swiftly deploying BGSS manpower across 108 Retail Assets RAPC centres (pan India).

13.    Extended Digital Outbound calling for assisting existing Bank's customers for various digital products inter alia CBDC, Platinum Debit Card, WhatsApp Banking.

14.    Launched pilot for NR Global Helpdesk operations.

A Snapshot of the BGSS Financial Performance

(' Cr)
Baroda Global Shared Services Ltd. (BGSS)
Particulars	FY2023	FY2024
	Audited	Audited
Total Income	254.81	348.74
Expenses	242.88	323.25
PBT	11.7	25.5
PAT	9.51	19.77
PAT %	3.73%	5.67%

BarodaSun Technologies Ltd.

BarodaSun Technologies Limited has been incorporated as a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda on July 5, 2017 with the Registrar of Companies, Mumbai, Maharashtra. The company has been formed to deliver system integration and consultancy services on matters relating to ever evolving IT enabled business solutions, software product application and implementation across various lines of business, for Bank of Baroda.

The Company is yet to commence full-fledged operations and it is envisioned to initiate activities like programme / project management and support services to implement enterprisewide IT projects and development of financial products and solutions to effectively cater to various business needs providing technological edge across different business verticals of the Bank.

The Nainital Bank Ltd.

The Nainital Bank Limited (NBL), originally promoted by Late Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant and others in 1922, became a subsidiary of Bank of Baroda in the year 1973. The Bank's holding in Nainital Bank Ltd is 98.57%. NBL has its registered office at Nainital and has operations in five states: Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR), Haryana and Rajasthan. NBL has -171- branches as on March 31, 2024. The total business of NBL increased to ' 13086.87 crore on March 31, 2024 from '12,305.42 crore as on March 31, 2023. The Bank posted a net profit of '47.10 crore in FY 2024 against a net profit of ' 46.30 crore during the previous year.

Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd (BBNPA AMC)

BBNPP AMC is a majority owned subsidiary of Bank of Baroda. It is a joint venture between Bank of Baroda (50.1% shareholding) and BNP Paribas Asset Management Asia Ltd (49.9% shareholding). The Company is the Asset manager for Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund. Both Bank of Baroda and BNP Paribas AM had existing fund management businesses in India, which were merged in March 2022 to create this JV

BBNPP AMC builds on the strength of its sponsors. The AMC leverages the vast network and local reach of the Bank of Baroda and global best practices and market knowledge of BNP Paribas Asset Management. Over the years, AMC has aggressively invested in strengthening investment capabilities, product range, reach, and distribution. The AMC managed MF AAUM of '35,646 crs during Jan-Mar 2024, representing a strong growth of 45% yoy. Additionally, the AMC also offers advisory services to offshore clients with AUM of '2,257 crs as of Mar 31,2024. Driven by the strong AUM growth and cost discipline, the operations of AMC became profitable during the year.

Brief Highlights of Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd for FY 23-24 are indicated below:

		(' in crore)
Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd.
Particulars	FY 2023	FY 2024
Total Assets	187.36	191.43

Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd.
Particulars	FY 2023	FY 2024
Net Profit for current FY	(6.88)	6.11
Average Assets under Management (AAUM)	26,436*	37,903*
Equity to overall AAUM (%)	56%	56%
*Includes advisory AAUM of '1,929 crores in '2,257 crores in FY2024.		FY2023 and

Indian MF industry is seeing accelerated growth driven by the rising aspiration of Indian middle class coupled with increased awareness about Mutual funds. An encouraging trend is that smaller towns are growing at more than double the pace of larger cities. India has possibly the best digital transaction infrastructure in the world, leading to rapid digital adoption by clients. The AMC is leveraging all these trends to create a strong presence in India. The AMC is committed to building a top-tier fund house that serves both -clients at home in India as well as helps foreign investors access the Indian market.

IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Ltd.

Headquartered in Mumbai, IndiaFirst Life Insurance Co. Ltd., is a domestic subsidiary of Bank of Baroda promoted along with Carmel Point Investments India Private Limited, owned by private equity funds managed by Warburg Pincus LLC. Union Bank of India is an investor in the Company. Total share capital of the Company is '1,433 Crores (including share premium)

In FY 2024, IndiaFirst Life posted Total Gross Written Premium of ' 6,974 crore with YoY growth of 14.8%. The Company improved its rank by 1 position to 11^th rank as compared to last year on Total New Business GWP amongst private Life Insurers. IndiaFirst Life's assets under management (AUM) is at '27,073 Crores as on 31st March 2024. Company posted Net Profit of ' 112.31 crore and total Income of ' 10,009 crore for FY 2024.

IndiaFirst Life was certified as a Great Place to Work (GPTW) for the sixth time in a row, a recognition considered as the gold standard for defining great workplaces across business, academia and government organisations along with being recognised among the ‘Top 50 of India's Best Workplaces in BFSI' by GPTW. The Company was also recognised among Best Brands of 2023 by The Economic Times.

India Infradebt Ltd.

India lnfradebt Limited (Infradebt) is the first Infrastructure Debt Fund (IDF) NBFC to commence operations in India. Bank of Baroda and ICICI Bank are the largest shareholders, while other shareholders include Citicorp Finance (India) Limited and Life Insurance Corporation of India. Infradebt finances the relatively safe, completed infrastructure projects which have achieved at least one year of commercial operations. Infradebt has been rated AAA/Stable outlook by CRISIL, ICRA and India Ratings since inception. Infradebt also enjoys 100% income-tax exemption on all its income.

The synergy with the Bank arises from Infradebt's focus on lending to strong, stable infrastructure projects - mainly renewable energy projects and road projects, thus promoting green energy in India and contributing to nation building. Infradebt business has grown steadily, with a loan book of

' 20,938 crores, Net Profit of ' 441.71 crores and Return on Equity of 14% during FY2024. Infradebt has also been paying dividends continuously for the past seven years.

A brief summary of Bank's all the domestic subsidiaries and Joint Ventures is given below:

(' in crore)
Entity	Owned funds	Total assets	Net profit	Offices	Staff
BOBCARD Ltd.	1070.90	5217.14	59.27	44	487
BOB Capital Markets Ltd.	148.29	169.63	-12.50	4	129
BarodaSun Technologies Limited	4.74	4.82	0.155	1	0
Baroda Global Shared Services Ltd	58.85	148.49	19.78	2	4634 (3342 On roll & 1292 Third Party)
The Nainital Bank Ltd.	776.85	9306.82	47.10	171	1170 ( including MT & officers)
Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt. Ltd.	158.42	198.24	6.11	9	275
Baroda BNP Paribas Trustee India Pvt. Ltd.	0.28	0.40	0.03	1	1
IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company Ltd.	1,181.30	28,143.70	112.31	29	4,720
India Infradebt Limited	3206.35	22981.68	441.71	1	30

Awards

In recognition of Bank's excellent performance in financial, digital front and other unique initiatives, the Bank was conferred with many awards and accolades durinq the FY 2024 which are qiven below;

Month

AWARDS RECEIVED DURING FY 2024

Q1 FY 24

•    Ms. Swapna Bandopadhaya, General Manager, presented with Advantage Club's Exceptional Women Award in Human Resources. •    Bank of Baroda receives the Best Contact Centre of the Year award 2023 at the Digital Customer Experience Confex & Awards 2023 organised by Gain Skills Business Media Pvt Ltd. •    Bank of Baroda received two awards at the Express Computer - BFSI Technology Awards 2023 in the Enterprise Mobility and Analytics/Big Data categories. •    Bank of Baroda won the Best Retail Financier award amongst PSU Banks at the Annual Financiers Awards 2022 organised by JCB India. •    Bank of Baroda was felicitated at the ET Best BFSI Brands 2023 for its leadership in the Banking sector. •    Bank of Baroda received two awards at the 7th edition of Adgully's-DIGIXX 2023 awards. o Gold - in the Search/Display Marketing category for Baroda Car Loan o Silver - In the Best use of Social Media (BFSI) category - #SaluteHerShakti campaign. •    Bank of Baroda received three awards at the ACEF Global Customer Engagement Forum & Awards: o Best Event Promotion for Sun Run 2.0 (Silver Award) o Best Use of Celebrity Endorsement for Sun Run 2.0 (Bronze Award) o Best Innovative Radio Campaign (Silver Award) for 115 hours of non-stop RJ Marathon on the occasion of the Bank's 115th Foundation Day. •    Bank of Baroda wins Gold at the 7th Annual Drivers of Digital awards organised by Inkspell Media in the category “Best Use of Animation or Graphics” for its # dilsedigital campaign. •    Bank of Baroda wins Bronze at the 7th Annual Drivers of Digital awards organised by Inkspell Media in the category “Best Use of Video Marketing on Social Platform” for its #PehchaanCon campaign. •    Bank of Baroda wins Gold in the Radio-Innovation category for Best Use of Sponsorship in an On-Air/On-Ground Radio Campaign for LALBAUGH LIVE at the Golden Mikes Awards 2023. •    Bank of Baroda wins Silver in the Radio-Creativity category for Best Single Commercial-Insurance, Banking & Financial Services for the 115 Hours of RJ Marathon campaign at the Golden Mikes Awards 2023. •    Bank of Baroda wins Bronze in the Radio-Promotion category for Best on Ground Promotion for/by a Brand-Single Radio Station for the Foundation Day at the Golden Mikes Awards 2023. •    Bank of Baroda Wins the 'Best Customer Service Initiative of the Year (Banking)' Award by Quantic India. •    Bank of Baroda has bagged the Atal Pension Yojana Annual for FY 2022-23 by Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA) •    Bank of Baroda wins two awards at The Great Indian BFSI Awards - 1) The Great Indian Internal Communication Campaign of the Year for #IAmSocial and 2) The Great Indian BFSI Lead Generation Campaign of the Year for BOB Home Loan •    Bank of Baroda wins CXO TV's Cloud Innovation Awards 2023 in the Smart Digital Category •    Bank of Baroda has been awarded with the “Great Place to Work” Certification 2023 for the 2nd year in a row by Great Place to Work Institute. Bank has also been awarded with “India's Best Employers Among Nation Builder 2023” and “India's Best Employers in Public Sector Undertaking 2023” •    Shri Akhil Handa, Chief Digital Officer, Bank of Baroda received the AI100 Award 2023 India, recognizing him as one of India's top 100 influential AI leaders by MachineCon India 2023. •    Bank of Baroda awarded third place in the State Level Best Banker award for the year 2022-23 for its contribution to the MSME sector, organised by Industries and Commerce Department of Tamil Nadu Government.

Month	AWARDS RECEIVED DURING FY 2024
Q2 FY 24	•    Bank of Baroda wins following awards at the Emerging Asia Banking Awards, organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce o The Best Bank - India award in the Large Public Sector Bank category o The Best Performance on CASA-India in the Large Public Sector Bank category o First runner-up in The Best Performance on Profitability-India in the Large Public Sector Bank category o First Runner-up in The Best Performance on Risk Management-India in the Large Public Sector Bank category o First Runner-up in The Best Performance on Asset Quality-India in the Large Public Sector Bank category. o Second Runner-up in The Best Performance on Growth-India in the Large Public Sector Bank category. •    Bank of Baroda bags Maverick award by Exchange4media for Best Marketing Campaign for a BFSI Brand for Digital Car Loan •    Bank of Baroda wins Gold in the mCube Awards organised by Inkspell Media for its campaign #SaluteHerShakti under the category of Best ATL Campaign for a Financial Enterprise •    Bank of Baroda wins Gold in the mCube Awards organised by Inkspell Media for bob World under the category of Best Display Marketing in Digital •    Bank of Baroda wins Gold in the mCube Awards organised by Inkspell Media for its campaign #SmashItWithSindhu under the category of Best Innovation/Creativity in a Social Media Campaign •    Bank of Baroda has been honoured with two awards, Best CX Strategy of the Year 2022-23 and Best Organisation in Customer Satisfaction at the Digital Customer Experience Confex & Awards 2023 organised by Gain Skills Business Media Pvt Ltd. •    7.Bank of Baroda has bagged the Best Digital Bank award at the 8th Edition of the TechMeet & Technology Excellence Awards organised by ASSOCHAM. •    Shri Ian De Souza, Chief Financial Officer, Bank of Baroda has won Dalal Street Investment Journal's (DSIJ) 2023 CFO Award in Large Cap Category. •    9.Bank of Baroda wins Employee Happiness Awards 2023 organised by Kamikaze B2B Media in the Best Community Impact Initiative category. •    10.Bank of Baroda is felicitated with Network 18, Second Edition of Green Ribbon Champion for contribution to Green Bank of the year. •    11 .Bank of Baroda bags the Government of India's prestigious Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar. Bank is awarded with the second prize under the ‘Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar' Scheme of the Government of India for the year 2022-23 in the Nationalized Banks category.
Q3 FY 24	•    Bank of Baroda wins The Financial Express India's Best Banks Awards 2021-22 for ‘Savings Product'. •    Bank of Baroda has been honoured with prestigious award by CafeMutual, recognising the Bank as leading Mutual Fund Distributor (across peer Banks) basis Equity Net Sales performance in FY 2022-23. •    Bank of Baroda won the Governance Now BFSI Awards 2023 under the category Digital Bank”. •    Bank of Baroda won the Silver metal for paid digital campaign for Baroda Car Loan at Pitch BFSI Marketing Awards 2023. •    Bank of Baroda felicitated under the Most Engaging Content category for the social media marketing campaign for bob World in India Content Leadership Awards 2023 by INKSPELL. •    Bank of Baroda felicitated with the prestigious National Award for Outstanding Performance in the SHG (Self Help Group) Bank Linkage Programme” for 2022-23 by Deendayal Antyodaya Yojna - National Rural Livelihoods Mission, Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India. •    Bank of Baroda received the “Progressive Places to Work 2023” award by ET Edge (The Times Group) •    Bank of Baroda won the 7th IDC Future Enterprise Awards under the category “Best in Future of Customer Experience” for its Digital Lending Platform.

Month

AWARDS RECEIVED DURING FY 2024

Q4 FY 24

•    Bank of Baroda bags Best Savings Bank Award at Navabharat BFSI Summit & Awards 2023 •    Bank of Baroda was named Best Bank” in the Large Public Sector Banks category by the State Forum of Bankers' Clubs Kerala (SFBCK) based on the Bank's performance in the financial year 2022-23. •    Bank of Baroda was named ‘India's Leading Public Bank (Large)' at the 16th Dun & Bradstreet BFSI & Fintech Summit 2024 for its outstanding performance for the period 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023 •    Bank of Baroda was recognised as the Winner (Public Sector) at the IBEX India 2024 BFSI Technology Awards under the category “Excellence in Financial Inclusion”. •    Bank of Baroda has been recognised as the winner of the Elets BFSI CXO Award in the category “Excellence in Innovation & Customer Engagement initiative”. •    Bank of Baroda was named the winner for “Best AI & ML Bank” and “Best Technology Talent” among Large Banks at the Indian Banks' Association's (IBA) 19th Annual Banking Technology Awards 2023. The Bank also received a Special Mention in four award categories - Best Technology Bank, Best IT Risk Management, Best Fintech & DPI Adoption and Best Financial Inclusion. •    Bank of Baroda has been honoured with ‘Best Central Public Sector Bank of India - Banking & Finance' Award at the 5th IPSE (India Public Sector Enterprises) Awards. •    Bank of Baroda was awarded the Best Use of Experiential Marketing and Best Performance Marketing Campaign of the Year award at the ASSOCHAM Branding & Marketing Summit cum Excellence Awards. •    Bank of Baroda has been recognised as ET NOW Best BFSI Brands for 2024 at the 7th edition of The ET Now Best BFSI Brands Conclave. •    Bank of Baroda emerges victorious at the ET BRANDEQUITYcom's ET Trendies Award for Cause-based Marketing for the Bank’s # PehchaanCon Influencer Campaign

Dividend Distribution Policy

Board of Directors of the bank has recommended a dividend of '7.60 per share for the financial year ended March 31,2024. The total outgo in the form of dividend will be '3,930.24 crore. The payment of dividend is subject to requisite approvals. The dividend distribution policy is given in this Annual Report and is also available on the Bank's website.

Board of Directors (Appointment / Cessation of Directors during the year)

Appointments

Shri Debadatta Chand was appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer w.e.f. 1^st July, 2023 by the Central Government u/s 9(3)(a) of The Banking Companies Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, for a period of three years, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Smt. Nina Nagpal was elected as Shareholder Director u/s 9(3) (i) of The Banking Companies Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, for a period of three years from 24^th December, 2023 to 23^rd December, 2026.

Shri Sanjay Vinayak Mudaliar was appointed as Executive Director, with effect from 31^st January, 2024 by the Central Government u/s 9(3) (a) of The Banking Companies Acquisition and Transfer of Undertakings) Act, 1970, for the remainder period of term i.e. upto 31^st December, 2025, or until further orders, whichever is earlier.

Cessations

Shri Sanjiv Chadha ceased as Managing Director & Chief

Executive Officer w.e.f. 30^th June, 2023 upon attaining the age of superannuation.

Smt. Soundara Kumar ceased to be a Shareholders Director w.e.f. 24^th December, 2023 on completion of her term of directorship

Shri Joydeep Dutta Roy ceased to be Executive Director of the Bank w.e.f. 31^st January, 2024, upon his taking over charge as Executive Director of Indian Overseas Bank.

Shri Srinivasan Sridhar ceased to be a Shareholders Director w.e.f. 21^st February, 2024 upon his resignation consequent to his appointment as Non-Official Director / Non-Executive Chairman of Indian Overseas Bank.

Dr. Hasmukh Adhia ceased to be Part-Time Non-Official Director as well as Non-Executive Chairman of the Bank w.e.f. 1^st March, 2024, on completion of his term of appointment on 29^th February, 2024.

Board Evaluation

Bank is following Government of India guidelines dated August 30, 2018 for PSB Governance Reforms - Enhancing governance through improved effectiveness of non-official directors.

Auditors’ Compliance Certificate on Corporate Governance:

The Auditors' Compliance Certificate regarding the compliance of the conditions of Corporate Governance for the year 2023-24 is annexed with this report pursuant to “Part E” of Schedule V of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015.

 

Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR)

Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) Report as required by SEBI has been hosted on the website of the bank (www.bankofbaroda. co.in). Any member interested in obtaining a physical copy of the same may write to the Company Secretary of the bank.

Directors’ Responsibility Statement

The Directors confirm that in the preparation of the annual accounts for the Financial Year ended March 31,2024.

a)    The applicable accounting standards had been followed along with proper explanation relating to material departures, if any;

b)    The accounting policies framed in accordance with the guidelines of RBI were followed and the directors had selected such accounting policies and applied them consistently and made judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent so as to give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Bank at the end of the financial year and of the profit and loss of the bank for that period;

c)    The Directors had taken proper and sufficient care for the maintenance of adequate accounting records in accordance with the provisions of applicable laws to the Bank for safeguarding the assets of the Bank and for preventing and detecting fraud and other irregularities;

d)    The Directors had prepared the annual accounts on a going concern basis; and

e)    The Directors had ensured that internal financial controls followed by the Bank are in accordance with guidelines issued by the RBI in this regard and that such internal financial controls are adequate and were operating effectively. Explanation: For the purposes of this clause, the term “internal financial controls” means the policies and procedures adopted by the Bank for ensuring the orderly and efficient conduct of its business, including adherence to Bank's policies, the safeguarding of

1

   The Bank focuses on overall yield from the customer rather than interest income by offering ancillary services like supply chain finance, value chain finance, CMS

2

   Bank has introduced additional services, enhancements in system controls and security features in its mobile banking application for customers. These include integrating credit cards, facilitating NPS subscriptions, incorporating the Liberalised Remittance Scheme (LRS), providing a currency converter, enhancing the mutual fund journey, generating provisional interest certificates for housing loans, offering a digital calendar/planner to track maturity dates of FD/RD/loan EMI due dates in calendar view, and allowing users to create their own events/reminders.

3

   Improving the page load speed time by implementing the best SEO practices.