Repco Bank to up equity by Rs 95 cr

The Repatriates Co-operative Finance and Development Bank Limited (Repco Bank), which has been working under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Home Affairs since 1969, has decided to raise its equity by another Rs 95 crore.

"At present, our equity base is around Rs 5 crore. This equity has been contributed by the Central and the state governments of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and the repatriates. Now we want to increase this equity to Rs 100 crore in due course. Already, the Centre and four southern states have agreed to contribute the equity amounts to meet our requirements," M Balasubramanian, managing director of Repco Bank, said.

The bank has 38 branches in the four southern states and it plans four more branches this year. Two new branches will open at Hyderabad and Guntur in addition to the existing three branches at Vizag, Vijayawada and Tirupathi.

The bank is governed by the central Co-operative Act and there is no need to take permission from the Reserve Bank of India to open new branches, he said.

Inaugurating the new premises of Repco Bank branch here, Balasubramanian said that at present the bank was concentrating only on retail lending.

"Compared to other commercial banks, we offer one to one-and-a-half per cent higher interest on deposits. This has seen our deposits increase and at present we have deposits of Rs 466 crore," he said.