Said Global Trust Bank Ltd's president (information technology and retail banking) PC Narayan: "Right from the outset, GTB has been immensely technology-driven. We now aim to increase our technology capability in terms of automated teller machines (ATMs), via Internet-banking and by putting our infrastructure in place. A key factor is getting back-office operations in place - our back-office is already centralised and highly automated. As a result, it delivers significant economies of scales in terms of operations".

The bank plans to launch its mobile commerce facility in Mumbai next week along with partner BPL Mobile. The feature has also been made possible through alliances with other leading cellular service providers such as Airtel in Karnataka and Tata Cellular in Andhra Pradesh.

GTB intends to focus on Internet banking and e-commerce. The bank currently has a customer base 5,00,000 and claims that its retail deposits grew by 77 per cent in June this year.

Talking about the bank's WAP-enabled initiatives, Mr Narayan said: "From a technology perspective, we are ready. But what is preventing this from happening is the scant availability of WAP telephones. Even if we provide WAP-enabled services, customers will not be able to use them as most cell-phones are only SMS-enabled. But the technology that GTB has deployed is both SMS and WAP-enabled, so the customer has a choice anyhow."

To provide technology-based access to customers, GTB has tied-up with Kotakstreet.com and Raj Travels for on-line payment settlement. The Bangalore-based Mind Tree will hone GTB's Internet strategy in electronic bill payments. "We are also looking at making a foray into other financial products segments like mutual funds and the insurance sector", said Mr Narayan.

GTB has installed 10 new ATMs this month. It is planning to install over a 100 ATMs by December this year and has aggressive plans to touch 250-300 by November 2001. The bank currently has 76 branches spread across 22 cities and has received the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) approval to open 15 additional branches.