Karnataka Bank plans branches in Punjab

The Karnataka Bank will open 18 branches in the northern states, of which six will be in Punjab only.

Bank Chairman Ananthakrishna yesterday told reporters, "At present, the bank has 382 branches and very soon we will reach 400 by opening 18 more branches in northern states, of which six will be in Punjab."

The chairman was in the city on the occasion of the shifting of the Jalandhar branch of the bank to alternative premises.

He said the bank had four branches in Punjab, one each in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Mohali, and Jalandhar.

The chairman said the turnover of the bank was Rs 17,000 crore, which included deposits of Rs 10,800 crore and advances of Rs 6,200 crore. Last year, the NPAs of the bank were 4.98 per cent, and this year they got reduced to 2.7 per cent, he added.

Asked about the proposal to merge public sector banks (PSBs) by the Union finance ministry, Ananthakrishna said, "In the current scenario, the merger of some PSBs is imminent. No bank in the country figures among the top 50 banks of the world."

Responding to the protests of the employees' unions against the proposed mergers, the chairman said it was not the employees who feared mergers; it was mostly the hype created by the union leaders in the minds of employees.