BoR eyes 26% business growth in FY 09

Eyeing a bigger share in the domestic-market, private-sector lender, Bank of Rajasthan (BoR) said it will ramp up operations and has targeted a 26 per cent business growth in FY 09.        

The lender has chalked out its business strategy for this fiscal, primarily focusing on strengthening its non-interest income and low-cost deposit base, its Managing Director and CEO, P L Ahuja, said.        

"Increasing the fee-based income would be a key focus area of the bank, which would support our business growth even when the interest-earnings comes under pressure on acccount of high interest rates," Ahuja told PTI here.        

The bank, which is currently operating in life and general insurance businesses through distribution tie-ups with Aviva Life Insurance and United India Assurance respectively, aims to enhance these segments through better delivery models, he said.        
BoR is also in pact with Birla Mutual Funds for distributing mutual funds products.      
  
The bank is also planning to scale up its presence in the domestic market. It has sought the RBI approval to open 30-35 branches in FY 09 which would take its total branch strength to around 500 by end-fiscal from the current 463, Ahuja said.        
With a view to finance its expansion programmes, the bank is looking at to raise around Rs 250 crore by way of private equity placements and is in talks with a few fund houses, he said.