Indusind Bank Plans To Double Branch Network

IndusInd Bank plans to double its branch network of 41, along with eight extension counters, to 90 by end of this fiscal.

J K Basu, executive vice president, "The bank plans to increase its branches to 90 by the year end. In the next couple of months we will open around 13 branches."

Bhaskar Ghose, managing director, added, "We do not intend to flood the country with hundreds of branches. We intend to have a critical mass and stabilise it at a far lower base than our competitors. This will be supplemented by a highly mobile sales force who will go to the customer and also by technology."

He said the bank was in talks with private and foreign banks to take over some branches. According to Ghose, however, now the process of getting branch licenses was much more faster and the expectations of prices were higher from foreign banks.

The bank had last week approved the amalgamation of its holding company IndusInd Enterprises & Finance (IEFL) with itself. With this merger, the Hinduja's stake in the bank will come down to 41.32 per cent. On whether the Hindujas are increasing their stake in the bank, Ghose said they will not be averse on increasing their stake to 49 per cent.

He was speaking on the relaunch of the internet banking service- Indusnet. Indusnet uses a software solution called "Bankworld", developed by the Dublin-based CR2, a global provider of channel banking and card payment solutions to the financial services industry. Bankworld manages the delivery of financial services channels available to customers.

According to Basu, it is the only internet banking service in the country that allows a customer to consult a personal banker online for any queries concerning his account.

According to Rajesh Juriasingani, regional manager (India and SAARC countries), CR2, customers can interact with the personal bankers through the site. "All the communications is on a secured messaging including financial transactions," he said.

IndusInd Bank has around 2 lakh customers, which the bank plans to increase by another 1.25-1.50 lakh by the fiscal end.