IOB to open 400 more branches this fiscal

Indian Overseas Bank is opening branches in Bangkok and Dubai. The bank Chairman and Managing Director M. Narendra told reporters here on Friday that the bank was in an expansion mode and had set itself the target of opening 400 more branches during the current financial year. At present, the bank has 3,059 branches.

Financial inclusion

“Our focus is on opening more rural branches and taking banking to villages. We have covered 3,000 villages under the financial inclusion scheme. There is a lot to be done on that count. Till now all the banks put together have covered only half of the six lakh villages in the country and there is a huge challenge and an opportunity ahead,” he said. He said the bank’s business — currently at Rs 3,89,000 crore — would cross the Rs 4 lakh-crore mark by the end of the current financial year, “but we have set ourselves a stiff target of Rs 4,25,000 crore.” He said the economic downturn was affecting the performance of banks, and inflation was also a cause for worry.

Narendra said the bank had recently recruited 4,562 employees and 6,500 more would be recruited depending on the expansion plans.

In Andhra Pradesh, the bank has 240 branches and 30 more would be added during the current financial year. “Our expansion will go on at the same pace during 2014-15, and we will add 500 branches all over the country, 50 of them in Andhra Pradesh,” he said.

The gross NPA of the bank stands at 4.65 per cent and net NPA at 2.83 per cent. “We want to bring down the gross NPA to below 3 per cent,” he added.

sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in

Source: thehindubusinessline