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Bank of Baroda to open 10 overseas branches

Special Correspondent

Proposes to set up a joint venture in Malaysia

CHENNAI: Bank of Baroda (BoB) is gearing to set a record in the Indian banking industry by opening ten new branches abroad this year.

This will see BoB set up a branch at Port of Spain in Trinidad & Tobago and gain a toehold in the West Indies. BoB will also establish branches in Ghana and Bahrain. The proposal will see the bank expand its presence in the U.K, Tanzania, Botswana, South Africa and Kenya by setting up an additional branch each in those countries. A branch in Canada and a representative office in Australia form part of the plan.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Anil K. Khandelwal, Chairman and Managing Director, said in addition to these branch expansion, BoB was readying to set up a joint venture in Malaysia with Andhra Bank and Punjab National Bank. Asserting that the overseas business was "a jewel in the crown of BoB," Mr. Khandelwal said the bank had 61 overseas branches in 21 countries. The size of the overseas business of the bank stood at Rs. 40,000 crore or 20 per cent to the bank's total business of Rs. 2.09 lakh crore last year.

NextGen branches

A third of its profit of Rs. 1,026 crore came from overseas operations, he added. It grew by 71 per cent last year, he added. Mr. Khandelwal said the bank was exploring possibilities of opening branches in Kuwait, Yemen, New Zealand and Surinam.

The CMD was here in connection with the inauguration of a specialist corporate banking branch at T. Nagar in Chennai. The branch would handle the bank's corporate customers having turnover above Rs. 100 crore. Having set up a NextGen branch at Pune, BoB was planning to open six more such branches this year to reach out to the youth.

To a question, he said BoB was not a major player in funding cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Nevertheless, Mr. Khandelwal said, BoB last year participated in funding seven cross-border acquisitions.

Bank of Baroda group has posted a net profit after minority interest, share of earnings in associates of Rs. 1,128.86 crore (consolidated) for the year ended March 31, 2007, against Rs. 904.69 crore in the previous year. Total income stood at Rs. 10,812.81 crore against Rs. 8,547.03 crore.

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