Standard Chartered Bank is looking at increasing its branch presence in the country by opening 23 new branches and 81 automated teller machines (ATMs) in the calendar year 2003. By the end of the calendar year the bank plans to have 81 branches in 25 cities along with 156 ATMs.
StanChart already has one of the largest network of branches for any foreign bank in the country with 58 branches and 75 ATMs. The nearest competitor in the category in terms of branch network is HSBC with 33 branches while ABN Amro has a network of 12 branches in the country. The network of branches of StanChart will make it equal to that of some of the smaller new private sector banks.
StanChart is following the domination strategy in cities where it already has presence and is also expanding to tier two cities. The bank will open four new branches in Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Jaipur and Lucknow between February 5 and 8.
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It is looking at entering 10 new cities including Bhopal, Baroda, Surat, Jallandhar, Secunderabad and Indore in the first phase of expansion.
In the second phase, the bank