Central Bank of India on Wednesday announced its plan to open a new regional office at Sambalpur in April. The new region in addition to the existing Bhubaneswar region would provide an impetus to expansion of the branch network in the western parts of the State, Executive Director (ED) Malay Mukherjee told mediapersons here.
The PSU bank is set to add three new branches at Barbil, Nuapada and Darlipali by March end that would take the branch strength to 97 in the State. Opening the new regional office would expedite the process of opening more branches in 2013-14 fiscal, the ED said.
Mukherjee, who is on a two-day visit to the State, inaugurated an outreach programme under financial inclusion at Bhingarpur under Khurda district on Wednesday. Around 111 smart cards were distributed along with Kisan Credit Cards to villagers and farmers of the panchayat.
He also inaugurated an on-site ATM at Nimapada and a credit camp organised by the branch there. About 170 sanction letters were distributed among the farmers.
The ED said the bank would be clocking a business of ` four lakh crore in the country by the end of 2012-13 fiscal earning a profit of at least ` 1,000 crore. In Odisha, it is set to achieve a business of ` 5,000 crore.
The bank is also set to open a representative office in Hong Kong soon. “We have already got the license to open the office in Hong Kong,” Mukherjee said.