Canara Bank has opened its branch in Johannesburg. This is part of the bank’s expansion plans abroad and CMD of the bank, Rajiv Dubey said the bank proposes to open branches in Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria, and deep into South Africa as well. He said the bank will target not only the Indian diaspora and PIOs but also the local population as it is doing in Hong Kong and London branches in a big way. He added that the bank’s overseas business has gone up from 2% to 6% in one year and it is confident of hitting the 10% mark. Canara Bank has 4,750 branches across India apart from presence in London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bahrain and Moscow. Dubey said the bank would use the experience of opening 18% of its branches last year in rural and semi-rural areas of India and South Africa. He also mentioned that the bank has plans to go into Tanzania and Mozambique in Southern Africa as well as Germany, Dubai, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. These are among 20 proposals which have already been approved by the Reserve Bank of India. A branch in New York will be opened next month.
