In a scenario when most foreign banks have shelved their branch expansion plans across the globe mainly due to capital constraints, the state-owned banks of India like Punjab National Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Central Bank of India etc have announced their overseas expansion plans in the current financial year. The move is mainly aimed to participate more in activities like trade financing, syndication etc and mobilise deposits from the nonresident Indian community.
Central Bank of India has announced to foray into overseas locations. The bank?s executive director, Pradeep Ramnath said, ?In the current financial year, we have planned to open representative offices in Hong Kong, Singapore, Doha, Dubai and London. Later on, we wish to approach the regulators of respective countries in a bid to upgrade these representative offices into full-service branches.?
JS Chiney, general manager (international operations), Bank of India said, ?By the end of current financial year, our bank intends to expand to seven overseas markets. By March 31, 2010, we intend to have presence across 35 overseas locations. Plans are afoot to open subsidiaries in New Zealand and Canada, and branches or representative offices in Cambodia, Madagascar, Cairo, Johannesburg, Leeds and Coventry.
A senior executive from Punjab National Bank?s (PNB) international banking division confirmed the bank?s plan to expand its operations in locations like Dubai International Finance Centre, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Shanghai, Norway, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Ukraine, Sri Lanka and Sydney in the current fiscal. The bank?s chairman and managing director Dr KC Chakrabarty inaugurated PNB?s fourth branch in the UK in Birmingham city on May 1, 2009.
RK Bakshi, executive director, Bank of Baroda said, ?In the current fiscal, we have planned to float subsidiaries and Canada and New Zealand, and open branches in African countries like Mozambique, Uganda and Suriname. Also, we will open a new branch in a London suburb and two more branches in the country of Trinidad and Tobago. Plans are afoot to open a branch in the port city of Fujairah in UAE and also in Moscow.
MV Nair, chairman and managing director, Union Bank of India said, ?In June 2009, we will open a representative office in Sydney. Over a period of time, we would like to expand to regions like Middle East, China, UK, USA and Africa.?
A senior SBI executive said, “We are on an overseas expansion spree in spite of the turmoil in the global banking space. We are opening two more branches in central London within a few months. An SBI branch in Washington is also on anvil in the current fiscal.