Union Bank's overseas branches soon

The Union Bank of India will open its overseas branches at the earliest, said M V Nair, the newly-appointed chairman and managing director of the bank.

Addressing mediapersons here, he said that the bank would open one branch each in Hong Kong and Doha as the RBI has already given its approval. As part of the expansion of the bank's global operations, it will also open representative offices in Shanghai and Dubai.

As the bank has yet to get necessary clearances from the nations concerned, the exact date of opening of the branches cannot not be announced.

"We hope that we will get the permission soon. I will meet officials in Doha and hope that we can start branches as soon as possible" Nair added.

As on March 31, 2006, the total business of Union Bank crossed Rs 125,000 crore. It is expected to be the fourth largest bank in the country in terms of business, he added. The three area of focus during the current fiscal would be to increase rural credit inflow, growth in retail financing and SME financing. The bank has attained an overall growth rate of 35 percent in agriculture credit and retail lending.

As part of widening of rural operations, bank has already opened 101 village knowledge centres attached with branches in order to disseminate information to farmers on weather, price of inputs and agricultural produce, improved cultivation, information on employment opportunities, etc. Of the total 2080 branches, 800 are located in rural areas and the bank will explore the possibility of opening more knowledge centres in more villages.

The bank will expand its network in Kerala by opening 11 more branches taking the total to 138.