Allahabad Bank plans to raise $100mn next fiscal

Kolkata-based Allahabad Bank plans to raise $100 million from foreign banks and institutions in 2004-05.

Addressing a press conference, O N Singh, chairman and managing director, Allahabad Bank, said, "We are planning to raise about $ 100 million from foreign banks and institutions to extend it as line of credit to companies in India during the next fiscal."

The bank will also be raising Rs 200 crore as Tier II capital to improve its capital adequacy ratio to 12.5 per cent from 11.25 per cent at present.

"We will be soon be selecting a solution provider to implement the core banking solution. We have estimated an investment of about Rs 300 crore on our core banking solutions to be implemented in three years.

"We have identified 495 branches out of the 1931 branches to implement the core banking solutions during the first phase," he said. The bank expects to add 100 more branches during the next fiscal.

Allahabad Bank will be opening a overseas banking unit (OBU) in Noida to cater to Special Economic Zones (SEZ). The bank already has OBUs in Mumbai and Delhi to cater to specific SEZs.

Singh said that the bank would soon announce a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for its employees once RBI gives clearance.

However Singh did not mention the number of employees chosen for VRS. The bank has about 19,200 employees of which 6,000 employees are as officers, 6,000 employees are as service staff and 7,000 employees are as clerks.

Allahabad Bank had implemented a VRS for 2,700 of its employees about two years ago.