Despite slowdown, PNB's overseas biz more than doubles

Despite the global financial meltdown, Punjab National Bank (PNB) has clocked growth of more than 100 per cent in its overseas business.

The bank registered business of over $2 billion in the overseas operations last year, said Ranjan Dhawan, chief general manager (PNB Credit Card Venture Division and Overseas Operations). He attributed the growth in overseas business to trade finance.

According to Dhawan, multinational banks were shying away from facilitating Indian exporters due to uncertain market conditions and this helped PNB to grab their market share.

Overseas operations contributed 2 per cent to the total volume of the bank’s business and it should touch 7-10 per cent in five to six years, he added.

He further said that the bank was quite aggressive in expanding its global footprint. PNB would set its foot in Nepal (through a joint venture with Everest Bank where the bank would provide management and equity participation), and in Dubai by the end of this year.

The branches in Canada and Shanghai are also in the works and may commence operations by mid-2010. He said that they applied for licences to the Reserve Bank of India for starting operations in Australia.

Dhawan was in Ludhiana to launch a special one-week drive for the issuance of credit cards in Punjab.

He added that the residents of Punjab can benefit from the global credit card of the bank as they trade and travel extensively. In Punjab, PNB is offering the credit card facility in Ludhiana, Mohali, Patiala, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Chandigarh, Khanna, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Bhatinda.

Regarding the profit and business of the bank, Dhawan said that despite the challenging operating environment, the net profit of the bank registered a year-on-year growth of 62.38 per cent to Rs 832.04 crore, during the first quarter of the financial year 2009-10 from Rs 512.40 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year. The total business rose to Rs 376939.11 crore at end June 2009 from Rs 287503.78 crore at end June 2008, registering a year-on-year growth of 31.11 per cent.

Regarding branch expansion, he said that the bank was more focused on leveraging the technology than increasing the number of branch operations.