One of India's leading banks -- Syndicate Bank [Get Quote] -- on Friday launched an innovative project to sell gold coins exclusively imported from Switzerland.

Syndicate Bank, based in southern India's Karnataka state said that 104 select branches of the bank across the country would sell gold coins under the brand 'Syndsona.'

The coins are available in denominations of four grams, eight grams and 10 grams in tamper-proof card with 999.9 purity certificates, the Bank said in a statement.

It said the Bank has imported the gold coins from Switzerland. "This import arrangement with Switzerland enables the Bank to offer very competitive rates to its customers," it said.

The Bank had tied up with existing clients and corporates for the sale of gold coins and announced the sale of around 50 kg of gold on the first day itself.

The Bank is also activating its branch machinery to achieve manifold growth in sales during the ensuing festival season. It has already received bulk orders from corporate clients as well as from other individual customers, it said.

Syndicate Bank Chairman C P Swarnkar said that in keeping with the image of 'small man's big bank', the rates of the coins will be very competitive among the peer banks.

"This is to ensure that the common man can purchase gold," Swarnkar pointed out.

He said the Bank plans to focus on this segment during the financial year and plans to line up a series of promotional activities.

"We are poised to achieve 'substantial growth' under this segment by extending the sales to another thousand branches soon, covering the entire country," he added.

Syndicate Bank has 2125 branches across the country.