Vijaya Bank to take DD Shoppe concept to other metros by Jan

Vijaya Bank is firming up plans to take its exclusive 'late-hours' demand draft (DD) issuing counters' concept -- DD Shoppe -- to other metros by January 2007 following its success in Bangalore.

"With customers making serpentine queues in front of the DD counters during busy business hours ie, from 9 am to 3 pm, issuing DDs of late has become a major problem for the bank. Moreover, many customers especially from the trading community prefer to take DD after 5 pm, which is even more difficult to accomplish. Keeping this in mind, we launched this concept wherein our regular DD counter is transformed into a DD Shoppe after 3 pm and issues DDs till 7 pm," T Valliappan, executive director of Vijaya Bank, told mediapersons here on Wednesday.

The bank is planning to extend this facility to other metros including Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi and Ahmedabad. "We should be launching the concept in these cities by January 2007," he said.

Meanwhile, Vijaya Bank today opened two ATMs in Hyderabad, taking its number of ATMs in the city to 12. It plans to increase its ATM-network across the country to 250, from the existing 162, by March 2007.

On the bank's other plans for the current financial year, he said the bank had set an ambitious target of achieving a business of Rs 60,000 crore comprising deposits of Rs 36,000 crore and advances of Rs 24,000 crore by the end of this fiscal.

"We have already garnered an aggregate business of Rs 52,000 crore as on date, and are hopeful of meeting our target," Valiappan said.

The bank will increase its number of branches from 929 to 1,000. So far, 360 branches have been brought under the core banking solution (CBS), which would be increased to 500 by this fiscal-end. Opening overseas representative offices in Hong Kong, China, Dubai and Malaysia too is on the bank's agenda, he said.

"We are also contemplating raising Rs 500 crore this fiscal. Initially, we will raise Rs 200 crore lower tier-II capital, and later Rs 300 crore upper tier-II capital," he added.