New Promoters To Up Bank Of Rajasthan Pie To 40%

The new promoters of the private sector old generation bank, Bank of Rajasthan (BoR), will enhance their holding to 40 per cent, the threshold limit allowed by the Reserve Bank of India, in another couple of months.

At present, the promoters hold 38.5 per cent in the bank, followed by the Jaipurias at 16 per cent. The balance is held by individual investors, private corporate bodies, NRIs and OCBs. Institutional investor hold a small 0.4 per cent.

BoR was originally run by the Bangurs. They transferred their stake to the Tayal group of companies, run by P K Tayal.

Meanwhile, the bank has firmed up plans to enter the insurance sector. It has entered into talks with Tata AIG and Birla Sunlife for distributing life insurance products. For non-life products, it has also entered into talks with a few public as well as private players.

"All will depend on the corporate agency norm," K M Bhattacharya, managing director, said. He added: "We are all set to commence insurance business through our branch network".

The bank has also firmed up plans to increase its network to 500 branches from 310 in the next three years. The bank will soon open branches in West Bengal, Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and Gujarat.

Bank of Rajasthan has targeted a deposit of Rs 4,000 crore against Rs 3,850 already achieved in the first half of the current fiscal. Advances, on the other hand, are expected to touch Rs 2,400 crore against Rs 2,150 crore in the first half.

It reported a profit of Rs 18 crore in the first half of the current fiscal, against the annual target of Rs 60 crore. Bhattacharya said the target was still achievable and the bank was sticking to it.

Shortage of staff in larger commercial banks and the shortfall of VRS have come as a boon to the bank. The lag period, as a result of application for loan and actual disbursement, has increased to three to six months in larger banks.

"Our housing loans are one of the cheapest in the country," said Bhattacharya. "We reduce the balance every month as and when payments are done," he added. Against a targeted figure of Rs 100 crore in the housing sector the bank has till date achieved Rs 60 crore.

The bank is also in the process of increasing its depository services from 19 to 50 branches by 2002.

On the technology front, it aims to connect all its 310 branches by 2004, against a total investment of Rs 50 crore. This year, the bank will connect 50 branches and will commence anywhere banking facility in all these branches by January 2002.