The Hindu Business Line : LVB sees no need for fresh capital

(From left) Mr Deepak Ghaisas, CEO, India Operations, i-flex Solutions; Mr R.M.Nayak, Chairman and CEO, Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd; and Mr K.S. Viswanathan, Country Head, Wipro Infotech, at the signing of MoU in Chennai on Friday. - Bijoy Ghosh

Chennai , Jan. 6

KARUR-based Lakshmi Vilas Bank expects its outstanding advances to increase by at least Rs 500 crore in the current year.

However, its Chairman, Mr R.M. Nayak, sees no need for capital infusion.

Even after Basel-II norms for capital adequacy kick-in, LVB's capital adequacy ratio will be at a "comfortable level" of over 11 per cent, Mr Nayak told a press conference on Friday.

The conference was held here to announce signing up with i-flex Solutions and Wipro for core banking solutions product Flexcube, and systems integration respectively.

Mr Nayak said the bank would invest between Rs 40 crore and Rs 50 crore each year in the next two years.

Earlier, LVB had tried out ICICI Infotech's (now, 3i Infotech) Newton, which was offered at an attractive price. But the bank faced scalability issues and hence chose to go with Flexcube.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Deepak Ghaisas, CEO-India Operations and CFO, i-flex Solutions, observed that of the last eight banks that had chosen a software product for core banking, seven chose Flexcube.

Later, in an informal chat with presspersons, Mr Nayak said that LVB would soon launch a massive branding exercise.