Corporation Bank looking at big-scale branch expansion:BL 241209
To focus on tier-3 to tier-6 centres.

Mr J.M. Garg
Corporation Bank, which has 1,094 branches in the country, is looking at expansion of its branch network on
a big scale in the next five years.Mr J.M. Garg, Chairman and Managing Director, told Business Line that the
bank is planning to open around 700 branches during the next five years.
Asked about the regions of focus, he said the bank has not identified any areas as such. However, he said
the bank will go for opening branches in tier-3 to tier-6 centres of the northern, eastern and western parts of
the country. "We will go in a limited manner in the South," he said.The major advantages for the bank
increasing its share in such centres are that it will be able to garner more CASA (current account and
savings account) deposits and it will help increase its presence in semi-urban and rural areas. "By opening
branches in tier-3 to tier-6 centres, the bank wants to increase the share of CASA deposits in its total
deposits. Those are the places where the CASA is high," Mr Garg said.
The move will also help the bank get additional licences to open branches in urban and metro centres.
To get licences
It will also help the bank get licences from the RBI in metros and urban centres where it does not have a
presence."These licences will be based on how many branches the bank has opened in tier-3 to tier-6
centres," he said.
Of the 1,094 branches of the bank, nearly 40 per cent of them are in semi-urban and rural areas. Mr Garg
said that in the banking industry it is the other way round.
The rural and semi-urban branch share of most of the banks is 60 per cent.Added to this, the move will help
the bank increase its agriculture lending also.To a query on increasing the overseas presence, Mr Garg said
that the bank has representative offices at Hong Kong and Dubai."The Hong Kong representative office is
proposed to be upgraded into a branch. Further we have plans to open offices in important financial centres
in future subject to necessary approvals," he added.