IndusInd Bank to have 132 branches more

Branches of Ashok leyland finance to be amalgamated

IndusInd Bank Limited plans to convert the 132 branches of Ashok Leyland Finance Limited (ALFL) across the country, which merged with the bank with effect from April 1, 2003, into full-fledged bank branches in a phased manner in the next 12 to 18 months.

The bank which had 62 branches and around three lakh customers, after merger has 244 branches and a strength of around eight lakh customers across the country.

Addressing a press conference, Varghese Thambi, senior vice-president of IndusInd Bank Limited, said: "In the first phase, around 10 branches in Andhra Pradesh would be converted as bank branches and we would be investing around Rs 20 lakh in each of the ALFL branches during the conversion."

According to Thambi, the bank has applied for approval from the Reserve Bank of India in this regard. "We have got the permission from the RBI for around 15 branches and hope to get the permission for the rest soon," Thambi said.

Speaking about the technology initiatives of the bank, Thambi said that the bank has installed and configured online real-time replication of data software, both on its production and data retrieval and storage (DRS) systems, located in Mumbai and Hyderabad respectively from June 20.

"The testing of these systems under different conditions has been completed and the results were encouraging. The bank has gone 'live' with this facility and at present all transactions, both customer and internal, are replicated on the DRS system online real-time," Thambi said.

The bank has allocated Rs 50 crore towards technology upgradation, out of which Rs 35 crore was invested during the last financial year and plans to invest the rest during this fiscal. Thambi said that from the current financial year onwards, the bank would put more thrust on the retail sector lending.

"For the financial year ended March 31, 2004, out of the total lending, retail sector lending was 30 per cent and the rest was corporate sector lending. From this year, we plan to increase the retail sector lending to 40 per cent," Thambi said.