Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Kannan said the infusion of additional capital is yet to be cleared by the bank's board and in case the subsidiary's request is turned down, it would have no option but to consider a joint venture, bringing down BoB's holding to less than 30 per cent.

"A public issue is not necessary at this stage. The money can easily be placed privately," Kannan said.

The bank is also planning to introduce a card for truck drivers in collaboration with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, with which it already has a tie-up for a co-branded card.

The company has recorded a 225 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 3.45 crore in 1997-98. The company has declared a dividend of 10 per cent for the year on a paid-upcapital of Rs 10 crore.

The total turnover of the company has gone up by 17 per cent from Rs 719 crore in 1996-97 to Rs 844 crore during the period under review. This includes Rs 379 crore foreign exchange acquired against Visa and Mastercards.

The company's profit before tax moved up to Rs 5.47 crore, registering an increase of 185 per cent over the previous year's figure. The company has provided Rs 2.02 crore for taxation during the year.

An amount of Rs 2 crore has been transferred to reserves. The company maintains its leadership in the number of electronic data capture terminals installed at merchant locations. Over 1,250 terminals have been installed all over the country so far and the company plans to instal more such terminals in the days to come.

With a Visa tie-up, Bobcard Global is accepted at over 10.5 million establishments across the globe. The company has 31 branch offices and plans to open more in the near future.

Bobcards has a tie-up with Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd underwhich it issues Bharat Bobcard premium, a co-branded Visa card. The company also issues a proprietary card known as Bobcard, a Visa card called Bobcard silver, also referred to as the Sachin Tendulkar card and a premium category card called Bobcard exclusive with Mastercard.