Bop Eyes 60% Rise In Forex Business

Bank of Punjab (BoP) aims to raise its forex business turnover by about 60 per cent in the current fiscal year to Rs 3,500 crore from Rs 2,300 crore posted in the last fiscal year.

The bank is planning to open 21 new banking offices across the country in the current fiscal year. It is also considering approaching the Reserve Bank of India for permission to open more offices abroad (in the line of its functions from Canada).

"We are planning to open around 100 exchange bureaus in the next 2-3 years. After having a concentration in northern India, we now propose to open more exchange bureaus in other parts of the country," Tejbir Singh, executive director of the bank, said.

The bank has bureaus in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Bangalore at present. It will set up similar centres at Kochi, Mumbai, Phagwara. "The bank has decided to have the full range of exchange instruments to buy and sell currency notes and travelers cheques of all issuers," Singh said.

The bank did a fund business of Rs 5,000 crore in the last fiscal and this is expected to go up to Rs 6,000 crore in the current fiscal (exclusive of the forex business).

Of the 21 new banking offices proposed in the current year, four are in Maharashtra and there will be one each at Surat, Indore, Kochi and Kolkata. The bank will also shortly open its first branch in Uttaranchal, at Dehradun.

The bank has decided to open more representative offices abroad. "As we have tasted success through our representative office at Canada, we are now seriously considering approaching the RBI for permission to open more such offices in other countries," said Singh.

"The bank is taking steps to introduce new products -- some of which would be based on state-of-the-art technology -- but, these will be unveiled at the appropriate time," he added.