Bank of India to redeploy 2,500 employees

Bank of India expects to redeploy 2,500 of its employees in marketing initiatives as the core banking solutions (CBS) will be extended to 750 branches by June 2006 from 330 at present.

Addressing a press conference to announce the launch of an online facility for payment of fees to the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT), M Balachandran, Bank of India chairman and managing director, said, "All the 2,500 employees to be redeployed belong to all the cadres who will market insurance products and mutual funds that will enable the bank to increase its fee-based income."

CBS uses software to centralise the data base of activities such as deposits, advances, etc., and reduces the number of employees required to do a particular activity. CBS enables a customer of the bank to access his account from any branch. The bank has already redeployed 1,000 of its 43,000 employees.

The bank is in the process of upgrading its Shenzen and Vietnam representative offices to branch offices.

It is also planning to open representative offices in Doha and Bejing and has received RBI approval for opening branch at Antwerp in Belgium and a wholly owned subsidiary at Dar-Es-Salaam in Tanzania.

To encourage the exporters, DGFT offers a 25 per cent rebate over normal fees for online payment of fees for which the exporters should have valid IEC code and internet banking facility with Bank of India.