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Mumbai, March 23: The State Bank of India (SBI) has opened more than 440 branches this fiscal, which translates into more than one branch per day.

The bank recently opened its 10,000 branch at Puduvayal, a small town 85 km from Madurai in Tamil Nadu. It is now the second bank in the world to have more than 10,000 branches after China’s ICBC.

Banking circles say there have been few instances of one bank opening more than 400 branches in a year.

According to Reserve Bank data, the SBI had around 9,556 branches in 2006-07, 170 more than what it had in the previous fiscal.

While its counterparts are stressing on better technology, the SBI wants to expand its branch network further. It plans to open more than 1,000 branches every year in the next two years.

Sources close to the bank say most of the new branches have been in rural and semi-urban areas. “It’s part of the SBI’s commitment to bring about greater financial inclusion which both the government and the RBI have been advocating,” a source said.

However, some feel the bank’s aggressive expansion plans are not cost-effective. “The branches will take some time to be profitable and in the meantime, opening of so many of them will see expenses rise,’’ said an analyst.

He added that the SBI would have to recruit more employees to man these branches, which could affect the profit per employee. The bank’s profit per employee has been growing at a slow pace over the past three years.

Vaibhav Agrawal, an analyst at Angel Broking, disagrees. Agrawal believes there is huge potential in the areas targeted by the SBI now.

“The rural and semi-urban centres can give good business to banks. There are many such areas where private sector banks are yet to make their entry. Moreover, the SBI can mobilise low-cost deposits and use the customer base to sell all their other products,’’ he added.