Indian bank in Malaysia aims high
India International Bank Malaysia (IIBMB), the first Indian bank to open in the country, is targeting to set up five branches in the first year of operations.
The locally incorporated IIBMB is a joint venture between three Indian government-owned banks – the Bank of Baroda with a 40 per cent stake, Indian Overseas Bank 35 per cent and Andhra Bank 25 per cent.
The full-fledged commercial bank opened its first branch in Jalan Raja Chulan in downtown Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
“This joint venture will grow in a big way. We are opening five branches immediately in the first year...In the next three years, we plan to have a minimum 10 (branches) and our medium-term plan is for 25 branches in another five years,” IIBMB director M Narendra said at the launch.
He added that the bank aimed to have a presence not just in the capital but also in major urban areas where there was a sizeable number of Indians.
Narendra said the bank had an internal target of 550 million ringgit (Bt5.5 billion) in total loans and deposits in the first year of operations while in the next three years, this figure was expected to grow to 2.5 billion ringgit.
IIBMB's shareholders have committed an initial capital of 300 million ringgit for the establishment of the banking operations in Malaysia that would initially have a staff strength of 32.
