Indian Bank is to expand its base in Sri Lanka by opening another three to four branches, according to the bank's Executive Director Rajeev Rishi.
The bank intends to open over 150 branches within the country to take its tally to around 2,000, of which 25 branches have been planned in Tamil Nadu in the coming fiscal, Mr. Rajeev Rishi said after inaugurating the bank's off site ATM at Manapparai.
The medium term plan of the bank was to increase its business from its current level of Rs. 1,80,000 crore to 5,00,000 crore with 2,500 branches up to March 2015.
The bank had 1,853 branches of which 61 branches were in the Tiruchi zone, he said adding that it also had footprints abroad in Colombo and Jaffna in Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil Nadu would continue to be the bank's niche area and it had developed a model of financial inclusion in Puducherry which could be replicated in rest of the country.
The Indian Bank stood next to the State Bank of India in disbursing educational loans with Rs. 2,668 crore having been advanced to over 1.7 lakh students, he said. The bank had set up 32 specialised micro finance branches in the country. Under the financial inclusion programme, the bank intends to cover around 5,500 villages by March 2012.
The bank was recently conferred with the Skoch Financial Inclusion Award 2011 for ‘SHG Initiatives – Urban Financial Inclusion'. D.A. Ulagan, the bank's General Manager/Zonal Manager, Tiruchi Zone was present on the occasion, a press release from the bank said.
