Yes Bank set for expansion in the north

Yes Bank is all set to focus on northern India. Of the 30 licences it has received from the RBI for branch operations, 14 will be in the north. Currently, it operates in Delhi and Gurgaon and has plans to open 12 more branches by the end of April, spread across various states in north India.

The branches will be located at Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Srinagar, Mandi Gobindgarh, Faridabad, Manesar, Jaipur, Noida, Greater Noida, Lucknow and in Delhi.

Talking to Business Standard, Manoj Adlakha, group executive vice-president and country head, retail banking, Yes Bank, said, "We are planning to open about 100 branches by March 2008 and most of them would be in northern India. Currently, we have a licence to operate 30 branches in India and almost 50 per cent of these would be located in the northern India.

The Srinagar branch is in adherence to RBI's Kashmir initiatives to augment trade and commerce in the state. It would facilitate augmentation of business in Jammu and Kashmir, offering holistic financial solutions to the citizens, industry and government, and in addition will structure some unique products especially to benefit the people of Kashmir. The bank has also prepared a comprehensive report on "Roadmap to Investment "" Jammu and Kashmir" along with the PHDCCI."

"The market in this region provides new opportunities. Though there are many banks operating there, but the customer services are not upto the desired standard. We will cater to retail banking, wealth management and business banking products and services. We will offer innovative financial solutions and adopt international best practices, and provide the highest standards of service delivery and operational excellence. Our key technology drivers like 'Single Pin' system which provides for a unique number for customers and 'Knowledge Banking' concept would result into convenient banking for the customers.

We would offer comprehensive banking and financial solutions to corporates under our Knowledge Banking concept, in which we will have experts solutions in the branches in various fields like life sciences, telecom, food and agriculture. It would offer invaluable and in-depth insights into different sectors, thereby helping our clients to develop great ideas and nurture them to fruition," adds Adlakha.

Talking about the focus areas of the bank's operation, he says that the top quality Human Capital across the bank's functions, including corporate and institutional banking, financial markets, investment banking, transactional banking and retail banking & wealth management would further help us in focusing on retail segment as well as Small and Medium Enterprise lending. The tie up with Max New York Life and Bajaj Allianz for insurance would help the bank in the distribution of financial services et al.

"As part of its knowledge-driven approach to banking, and commitment to assist stakeholders in developing sustainable and commercially viable projects in the region, our effort would be to continue sustained and continuous investments," he added.