LVB to invest Rs100cr in IT

Karur-based Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) will invest about Rs 100 crore in its information technology initiative in the next two years. The bank has inked deals with i-flex Solutions and Wipro Infotech for its new IT initiatives.

The bank has chosen Flexcube, a core banking solution of i-flex, as it its core banking platform.

As the system integrator, Wipro, which has been providing IT systems support to LVB, will provide the branch connectivity and required support services as bank rolls out the core banking software in the branches in a phased manner.

Addressing a press conference, R M Nayak, chairman and chief executive, LVB, said that about 150 branches would shift to the new software in the next 18 months, enabling the bank to garner about 95 per cent of the business from these branches.

Of its 230 branches, about 135 branches are in rural and semi urban areas, covering about nine states.

Nayak said that bank would do a pilot run in about six branches, including those in rural, semi-urban and urban areas. Once it completes the pilot run successfully, it would replicate the same in its other branches.

LVB had earlier opted for 3i Infotech's core banking product Newton. However, Nayak said Flexcube was chosen considering its future needs.

Wipro will undertake infrastructure provisioning, branch infrastructure roll out and provide critical services like disaster recovery and data center management.

The total business of the bank is in the region of Rs 6,200 crore. It is expected to cross Rs 7,000 crore by the end of this fiscal. "We are more or less on track," he added. The bank is planning to open three more branches during this fiscal.