Chennai based Indian Bank on Thursday said that it plans to acquire a domestic bank by the end of this fiscal. The bank's chairman M B N Rao speaking in Bangalore on the sidelines of the conference on "Global Banking: a paradigm shift" said that Indian bank was presently evaluating acquisition targets.

While indicating the potential target will be a domestic bank, he refused to spell out whether it will be a weak or a smaller bank.

He only said, "We are examining the issue. The acquisition should happen in the shorter horizon rather than the longer horizon." 

Incidentally this move clearly reveals the dramatic turnaround the scam- tainted bank has crafted. Barely two years ago, Indian bank was bailed out from the critical list by the finance ministry through a Rs 1,300 crore (Rs 13 billion) capital infusion.

However, after that, the bank has gained in strength steadily upping its performance. Last fiscal it reported a net profit of Rs 405.75 crores (Rs 4.06 billion) against Rs.188.83 crore (Rs 1.89 billion), the previous year.

Further the bank is also on course for an initial public offering this financial year. As at March 2004 the bank had a capital base of Rs 4,564 crore (Rs 45.64 billion) and a capital adequacy ratio of 15 per cent.