Setting its eyes on expanding business overseas, Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) on Friday announced that it hoped to launch its Dubai operations in the next three months and was looking at opening another four branches in other countries.
Talking to newsmen here to launch the process of enrolment for the Unique Identification Authority of India's (UIDAI) ‘Aadhar' project, bank Chairman and Managing Director T. Y. Prabhu said the bank expected to receive Reserve Bank of India's nod for setting up its first overseas branch in Dubai in the next three months.
Plans branches abroad
The bank plans to have a total of three branches abroad in three-four years as part of plans to meet the funding requirement of Indian companies working in foreign markets.
The first overseas branch is planned at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC). “We have asked for approval from RBI and we are waiting for the permission for the branch in DIFC. I think we should get the permission within the next three months. Then we will apply to DIFC,” he added.
“According to our medium-term objective, we envisage setting up of at least three overseas branches within 3-4 years. We have not identified all the locations and the entire process of opening a foreign branch generally takes between one and one-and-a-half years,” he said.
The bank had already announced plans for major domestic expansion, involving the addition of 500 new branches by 2012-13, including 175 this year.
The bank currently operates 1,555 branches across the country, catering to a 1.6 crore-strong client base.
OBC is among the 22 financial sector players to have entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Nandan Nilekani-headed UIDAI.
Mr. Prabhu said the bank would provide UID number cards to all 16,000 of its employees and 1.6-crore clients, besides the populace of all 570 villages put under its charge by the RBI as part of the government's financial inclusion programme.
Mr. Prabhu, however, said the bank has not fixed any timeframe for completion of the enrolment process.
