"We have, for the first time, applied to the Reserve Bank of India for opening representative offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, London and the Middle-East," M S Kapur, chairman, Vijaya Bank said.
The bank also plans to open a full-fledged branch in Hong Kong given the significant business prospects there, he said.
The PSU bank, which had raised Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) tier-I capital last year, may go for raising another Rs 200-250 crore tier-II capital after December, 2005, the chairman said.
The capital-adequacy ratio of the bank had improved to 20 per cent while the government holding was reduced to 53.80 per cent post issue last year. Meanwhile, the bank has decided to merge its subsidiary V I Housing Finance Ltd with itself, Kapur said.
The legal process for the merger of the subsidiary, having an asset base of Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) and 15 branches, was over and "the merger will be completed any time".
Asked about the life insurance venture by the consortium of the Vijaya Bank, US-based Principal Asset management Co., Berger Paints and Punjab National Bank, Kapur said, "We have obtained IRDA nod and it will be launched very soon".
Vijaya Bank would hold 12 per cent stake in the insurance JV, which would have a net worth of Rs 110 crore (Rs 1.1 billion).
Expressing satisfaction over the performance of the bank, Kapur said, ''We had aimed at doubling the business volume by 2005-06. It has already been doubled from Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) in 2001-02 to Rs 41,000 crore (Rs 410 billion) in 2004-05''.
The targeted business in 2005-06 was Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) with Rs 31,000 crore (Rs 310 billion) deposits and Rs 19,000 crore (Rs 190 billion) advances.
The bank, having a network of 985 branches, has sought RBI nod for opening another 100 branches. Stating that the bank was giving stress on retail sector, he said retail credit constituted 38 per cent of total credit last fiscal.
In the retail segment, housing loan was the focus area and the bank's interest rate of seven per cent was among the lowest charged by the public sector banks, he said.
The net NPA of the bank was less than one per cent while the gross NPA was below three per cent level. Kapur said the bank was open to the idea of acquisitions in northern and western regions.
He said the bank was also in the process of appointing a consultant for organisational restructuring and review of its HR policy, including a possible offer of incentive schemes for performing employees.
Commenting about the Centre's move to grant more autonomy to the PSU banks, Kapur said Finance Minister P Chidambaram had recently visited the bank and advised the board to be a ''supporting body to management and not a fault-finding machine''.
The first quarter results of the bank, he said was satisfactory with an operational profit of Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion) and a net profit, after special provisioning of Rs 220 crore, of Rs 27 crore (RS 270 million).
