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Our Bureau

Almost 20 per cent of Bank of India's business turnover comes from its international business.

Mr M. Balachandran

Kochi Oct. 14

FOLLOWING the boom in the Chinese economy, Bank of India will be upgrading its office in China, as well as setting up a new branch in that country.

The bank also has plans to open new offices in Karachi and Lahore in Pakistan, but there are a lot of formalities to be complied with before these branches become a reality, Mr M. Balachandran, Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of India, said.

The bank will also be upgrading its Vietnam office, and opening a new subsidiary in Tanzania and a new branch in Belgium. The bank has substantial exposure in diamond and jewellery business for which the Belgium office will become a major facilitator. Belgium and New York are the two major hubs for the global diamond business and the bank already has an office in New York, Mr Balachandran said.

Almost 20 per cent of Bank of India's business turnover comes from its international business. The bank has 23 branches and offices abroad, including major centres such as London, New York, Paris, Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong, Nairobi, Vietnam, Shenzhan and Jakarta. By extending its global reach, the bank plans to expand its global business.

As part of its centenary celebrations, the bank has initiated a re-engineering project, which is under implementation. The bank also plans to focus on retail and SME loans as growth areas of tomorrow.

All the branches of the bank are computerised, Mr Balachandran said, and in places where no electricity is available, computerisation has been effected using solar power. Of the 2,594 branches, 731 are networked and another 1,200 will be networked by March 2006. The bank has set up 280 online ATMs and 1,200 shared ATMs are already available.

The corporate plan for the current year envisages operating profits to touch Rs 2,000 crore, deposits Rs 93,450 crore, advances Rs 69,650 crore and net NPAs of less than 1 per cent.

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