Vijaya Bank wants to touch 1000 branches mark

Hubli, Aug 26: Public sector Vijaya Bank proposed to touch the 1,000 branch mark by March 2007, provided the Reserve Bank of India approved its application, its Chairman and Managing director Prakash P Mallya informed today.

Addressing a press conference here, he said at present the bank had 924 branches across the country, of which 430 were in Karnataka.

The bank had earned a profit of Rs 72.63 crore during the quarter ended June 30.

Mr Mallya said in all 390 branches of the bank were already under core banking and it was proposed to increase the number to 500 by March 2007. The bank has also brought down its NPA ratio to 2.96 from 3.17.

To a question, he said the concept of Vijaya Adalat started by the bank in its platinum jubilee year had evoked good response.

It could settle Rs 17 crore through these adalats.

To another question, Mr Mallya said the bank proposed to achieve its platinum jubilee business target of Rs 50,000 crore by September 30 and Rs 60,000 crore by March 2007.

''We also plan to open overseas representative offices in Hong Kong, China, Dubai and Malaysia, besides improving the CD ratio with stress on quality business and the low cost deposit base to 40 per cent of the total deposits through aggressive campaigns,'' he added.

UNI