Allahabad Bank to focus on south

Bhubaneswar, Nov 14: Allahabad Bank has proposed to expand its presence in southern and western region with the opening of 37 new branches this fiscal year.

Talking to newsmen here, Allhabad Bank Chairman-cum-Managing Director R Kamath said the Bank was now trying to consolidate its position in western and southern parts of the country to attain a national character. He said during this fiscal, the Bank was planning to open 18 new branches in Tamil Nadu, 17 in Punjab and two in Gujarat. The Bank had already opened 64 new branches and got the license to set up another 66 new branches. Mr Kamath said during 2009-2010, the Bank had applied to open another 180 new branches across the country.

He said as against the credit target of 20 per cent for 2008-2009, the Bank's advances had clocked an year-on-year basis growth rate of 27 per cent.

He, however, hoped the growth rate would be around 20 to 25 per cent by the year end as the borrowers were now shifting from external commercial borrowings and equity market to Bank credit.

To a question, Mr Kamath said the Bank would wait for sometime in the wake of the high interest rate to raise Rs 2750 crore through Tier I and Tier II capital to meet its fund requirement.

The CMD said the Bank would enter into gold business from the auspicious day of Akhaya Trutiya in April, 2009, but refused to give the Bank's expectation from the business.

UNI