Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Mar 10, 2005
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Mar 10, 2005 |
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Money & Banking
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Public Sector Banks Vijaya Bank plans to open 100 branches Our Bureau
Mr M.S. Kapur
Pune , March 9 VIJAYA Bank is drawing up expansion plans which will take it to the level of a 1,000-branch bank with Rs 42,000 crore in business by end of March 2006. The bank will open its 900th branch in Mathura on March 28 and add at least 15 more before the end of this fiscal, Mr M.S. Kapur, Chairman and Managing Director, said here today. Talking to reporters, Mr Kapur said the bank will focus on markets in western and northern region for growth in the next fiscal and plans to open 100 branches in Maharashtra alone. "Maharashtra and Punjab are the gold mines as far as any banking activity is concerned and we will expand our presence in these destinations to grab a larger chunk of the market," Mr Kapur said. The bank has 67 branches in Maharashtra. Mr Kapur said the bank is training its staff and will also focus on opening more branches in the Punjab-Haryana region which is slated to be a large hub for agro-based industries and extensive agri-processing business. Also planned simultaneously are branches in Gujarat, he added. Mr Kapur said the bank is awaiting nod for its proposed foray into life insurance business. "We are also the first bank to express interest in the pension fund business," he said adding, however, that the latter venture will only be followed up after the appointment of the regulator governing it. Meanwhile, the bank is on a mission to leverage technology to grow its business and is gearing up to connect at least 400 of its branches through a core-banking solution by March 2006. "Seventy of our branches are connected through core banking solution currently,'' Mr. Kapur said, adding that it has invested an estimated Rs 100 crore in technology till date. "In the next fiscal, we will spend Rs 90 crore more towards the core banking solution," he added.
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