Vijaya Bank plans overseas foray

Kochi, June 15 (UNI) Planning its first overseas foray, the public sector Vijaya Bank has applied to the Centre and the RBI for permission to open branches in the Middle-East, China and Hong Kong.

Stating this at a press conference here , Vijaya Bank CMD Prakash P Mallaya said the bank was hopeful that it would be able to open the branches this year, the Platinum Jubilee of the bank.

On mergers and acquisitions, Mr Mallaya said while these were becoming increasingly necessary to achieve economy of scales, the Vijaya Bank did not have any plans in this direction.

On the bank's performance, he said 2005-06 was not a very good year for the bank as there was no growth in volumes. The bank ended the year with a business of Rs 45,000 crore and a net profit of Rs 126 crore, down from Rs 180 crore net profit in the previous year.

However, it was targeting a business turnover of Rs 60,000 crore with a net profit of Rs 350 crore in the current financial year.

Agriculture, small scale and medium scale enterprises and retail loans will continue to be the focus areas for the bank, he said.

To boost its business, the bank was planning to increase its network of branches from the present 923 to more than 1,000.

In Kerala, the bank had a total of 73 branches and was planning to open four or five more this year.

On the volatility in the stocks market, he said the exposure of most nationalised banks to the equity market was very low. Vijaya Bank had advanced only Rs seven crore against shares.

Mr Mallaya, who opened the bank's first branch under core banking solution (CBS) in Kochi this morning, said that Vijaya Bank was planning to increase the number of its CBS branches from 365 to 500 and ATMs from 125 to 250 during this fiscal.

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