Union Bank of India will have a branch in Sydney, Australia, as it is planning to open 10 overseas branches soon.
“The process to open the Sydney branch is on,” said SL Bansal, general manager (eastern zone).
While he did not clarify whether the bank has already applied with the respective regulatory body in the country, he said: “It all depends on how fast we get the licence.”
Present at a press conference to announce Union Bank’s plan to roll out 100 specialised business banking branches for the micro, medium and small industries (MSMEs), Bansal said the bank is looking at a 35% growth in advances and 33% growth in deposits in 2008-09.
Union Bank has a branch in Shanghai in China and a representative office in Abu Dhabi apart from its recently opened branch in Hong Kong.
“We are looking at a 35% growth rate in advances in 2008-09, although demand for fresh credit has recently come down,” he said. The bank’s advances had grown by 38.59% in 2007-08 to Rs 76,163 crore.
Union Bank is planning to increase advances to Rs 1 lakh crore by March 2009.
While advances in the MSME segment of the bank constitute almost 16% of the bank’s total advances, it is likely to go up to 20% of the total advances by 2012. “Advances to MSME has touched Rs 13,484 crore in September 2008, registering a growth of 30%,” Bansal said.
“Major challenge in front of MSMEs is longer operating cycle and piling up stocks. Keeping that in mind we have increased the holding period for the inventory from three months to six months,” he said.