Allahabad Bank plans to open four foreign, 250 domestic branches

Allahabad Bank plans to open 250 branches across the country, besides four foreign branches this year.

“We have applied for four licences to the Reserve Bank of India, and we hope to get them shortly,” Mr J.P. Dua, Chairman and Managing Director, Allahabad Bank, said here on Wednesday. The four foreign branches will be located in Shanghai, Singapore, Dhaka and an additional branch in Hong Kong at Kowloon.

The bank currently has a branch in Hong Kong and a representative office in Shanghai.

Recruitments too

Allahabad Bank, which currently has over 2,500 branches across the country, plans to add 250 branches to its network this fiscal. The bank also plans to add 1,000 more ATMs to the current network of 350. “We have already floated tenders for the machines,” said Mr Dua.

The expansion will help the bank achieve a 21 per cent growth in total business, which was at Rs 2.7 lakh crore during the last fiscal. “We plan to achieve a business of Rs 3.2 lakh crore by March 31, 2013, and hope to cross Rs 4 lakh crore within the next two-year horizon,” he said.

The bank plans to recruit 1,600 probationary officers and 350 specialist officers during 2012-13.

Allahabad Bank is adequately capitalised currently with a capital adequacy ratio at over 13 per cent with tier-I at over 9 per cent, said Mr Dua. “We are adequately capitalised to meet the business growth till 2014, as we added Rs 1,500 crore to our balance sheet through internal accruals during the last fiscal,” he added.

The bank received Rs 460 crore from Life Insurance Corporation of India last fiscal. “In tier-II capital, we have a head-room of Rs 7,000 crore,” said Mr Dua. “The bank will explore all routes for funds, if the bank needs any capital needs for our credit growth in the coming years,” he added.

anju@thehindu.co.in