A recent press report said that Bank of India has planned to establish four more branches abroad in Uganda, Rwanda, Bostwania and Canada. The bank presently draws 19 per cent of its business in international operations across five continents and has now planned to launch four more subsidiaries overseas.
Mr.N.Seshadri, Executive Director of Bank of India, said that the bank has recently opened its branch in Newzealand and has planned to set up subsidiaries in African and other emerging markets as these markets are less capital intensive and also yields high returns. Regarding these proposals the bank has obtained approval from the Reserve Bank of India and the talks for consent from the respective governments are taking place.
He also said that the bank had raised some amount of funds through medium term note (MTN) in February this year and due to the unfavorable market conditions it does not consider MTN as a suitable instrument for fund raising and it is now looking for issuing follow – on public offer (FPO) to meet its capital requirements.
Mr. Seshadri said that the discussions regarding the issue of FPO are being done with the government; however the government would hold its shareholding to 64 per cent in Bank of India. The bank is also planning to adopt either rights issue or a qualified institutional placement (QIP) to raise its capital. The individual services of the bank include bank deposits, international banking, education loans, home loan, personal loan etc.