The Hindu Business Line : IDBI Bank scouting for buys to grow

IDBI Bank Ltd, on Tuesday, said it would have a network of 500 branches by 2008 fiscal-end, up from 155 branches now, even as it scouts for acquisition opportunities in the country as part of aggressive growth plans.

"All the major banks are talking about acquisitions. We are also waiting for the right opportunity," the IDBI Bank Chairman and Managing Director, Mr V.P. Shetty, told reporters, after inaugurating the bank's data centre at Belapur, Navi Mumbai.

He said the bank was also doing the "necessary groundwork" for opening offshore branches in the South East Asian and Gulf countries.

Mr Shetty said IDBI Bank would have a network of 200 branches by March 2006. It will add another 150 branches each in by March 2007 and 2008 respectively, he said.

On fund mobilisation, Mr Shetty said the bank had a total deposit base of Rs 15,000 crore at the time of its merger with IDBI. Of this, about 40 per cent constituted low-cost funds, he said. In the last nine months' period, IDBI Bank was able to increase its deposit base to Rs 20,000 crore. As the bank's high-cost funds get matured, the bank would raise funds from the market, Mr Shetty said.

On its insurance entry, he said the bank was in an advanced stage of negotiations with prospective partners. The bank would soon enter the life insurance sector and a partner would be finalised in a week's time, Mr Shetty said.

Data centre: Elaborating on the data centre, Mr Shetty said the highly scalable IT infrastructure, built through IBM Global Services, will support the bank's aggressive growth plans, including doubling the current branch network. The IT infrastructure in the data centre is based on open standards, and it will enable it to integrate data and applications resulting from mergers and acquisitions, he said.

The total investment for the centrewas Rs 56 crore.

Mr Frank Kern, General Manager, IBM (Asia Pacific), said IBM was eager to participate in technology implementation in the financial services sector in India. "services is the biggest industry across the globe for IBM. Banking and India are important for IBM," he said.

Mr Swarup Chaudhury, Director, financial services sector, Asean / South Asia, IBM, said IBM was also implementing similar IT infrastructure projects for Syndicate Bank, Canara Bank and HSBC in India.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page