Bank of Maharashtra plans national footprint

Pune-based Bank of Maharashtra has chalked out a national expansion plan and is looking forward to opening new branches in the northern and southern regions as well as in West Bengal.

The public-sector bank has received an authorisation to open 21 additional branches across the country and is expecting the total customer base to increase by at least one lakh.

During the current financial year, Mahabank has opened three new branches, taking the total branch network to 1,294 branches and 31 extension counters spread across 22 states and two union territories.

"All the new branches will be opened in metros and urban areas. There are no plans to come up with any branch in semi-urban or rural areas. We are expecting to add at least 5,000 new customers per branch, which come to a total of 1,05,000 customers within the first year of operation," said B K Piparaiya, general manager, responsible for monitoring the credit administration system at Bank of Maharashtra.

"Out of 21 new branches, 11 will be opened in north, with Chandigarh (03) Delhi (02), Gurgaon (02) and Punjab, Haridwar, Agra and Firozabad (one each). Also, there will be four branches in the southern region in Goa, Bangalore, Vishakhapattanam and one in Andhra Pradesh. The remaining branches will be opened at West Bengal in Kolkata, Burdwan, Rajarhat, etc," he added.

The bank has added 2,00,000 accounts under the savings bank deposits during the current financial year. Its customer-base has widened to 94,00,000 accounts. The bank has also launched debit cards and expanded its ATM network.

Its ATM network has reached 5,800 points by adding ATMs of other banks with its own. The family-banking card, that the bank has launched has managed to garner 30,000 new families into its scheme.

The Mahabank has recorded a net profit of Rs 26.75 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2005, as against a loss of Rs 57.33 crore, during the corresponding period of previous year. Net profit for the nine-month period, ended was at Rs 84.20 crore, as against Rs 50.83 crore.