Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has sought the approval of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to hive off its IT (information technology)-related activities into an independent subsidiary.
Indicating this at a press conference here on Wednesday, the newly-appointed Chairman and Managing Director of IOB, M. Narendra, said the move to float a separate subsidiary was intended to unlock the value created by its IT activity by offering these services to others in the industry.
In this context, a senior official of the bank told presspersons that the bank had saved Rs.300-400 crore by undertaking in-house IT activities.
The CMD also indicated that the bank would not averse to taking a partner in the proposed IT subsidiary.
Addressing the press for the first time since his assumption of office as the CMD, Mr. Narendra said IOB had also sought RBI nod for opening104 new branches.
Branch expansion
In this context, he said the bank was planning to expand the branch network to 3,000 from the current 2,015 in two-and-a-half years.
By then, he was confident that the bank would have deployed a matching number of ATMs (automated teller machines).
The CMD said the bank had chosen TCS as its service provider in its move towards achieving financial inclusion. The bank, Mr. Narendra said, was planning to adopt the banking correspondent model to achieve financial inclusion.
In the light of the KPMG recommendations and following the move towards financial inclusion, IOB, he said, would recruit more people at various levels.
He hinted at the possibility of the bank going in for campus recruitment also.
