IndusInd Bank receives 'okay' to open 19 branches

New Delhi, Dec 26: IndusInd Bank Ltd today said it has received authorisation from the Reserve Bank of India for opening of 19 additional branches.

The authorisation is in addition to the 21 licences which the bank had received during this financial year. While seven branches have been opened, the remaining 14 branches would be opened before March 2007.

''The new set of licences will help us in country-wide expansion, especially in the North East region. We already have 86 off-site ATMs and licences for 100 more. An arrangement with the State Bank Group, MITR consortium and Corporation Bank for the use of their 15,000 ATMs for IndusInd Bank customers is in place. All this will provide a big boost to our retail banking operations, which is our focus area,'' IndusInd Bank Managing Director and Cheif Executive Officer Bhaskar Ghose said.

The bank has a network of 147 branches and 86 offsite ATMs spread over 118 geographical locations in 24 states and Union Territories.

With the new licences, the network will increase to 180 branches by March-April 2007.

The bank has a representative office each in Dubai and London, besides arrangements with seventeen exchange houses from the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman to provide funds-transfer services to NRIs.

UNI