Chandigarh, April 15 (IANS) Chennai-based Indian Bank plans to increase its international presence, particularly in those areas where Tamils are living, during fiscal 2011-12, a top bank official said Friday.

 
 The bank also intends to open more branches in India, particularly north India, where it will bifurcate its Chandigarh zone - presently covering five states - to better handle the area.
 
 "In the international market, right now Indian Bank is operating branches in Singapore and Sri Lanka. In Sri Lanka, we have branches in Colombo and in Jaffna. We would open three more branches in Sri Lanka in the coming months," chairman and managing director T.M. Bhasin told reporters here.
 
 "We also have plans to open branches in Hong Kong and at Jakarta (in Indonesia). From our Hong Kong branch, we can easily handle our Chinese business," he said.
 
 Bhasin said the bank's focus is up on those areas where they can easily find Tamil clientele.
 
 "Tamil people are particularly very inclined towards our bank and we are also very close to them. So, we want to venture in those areas where many Tamil people are living. In Sri Lanka, many Tamils are there and we have very good business," he said.
 
 Bhasin said the bank had international business of around Rs.10,000 crore till March 2011.
 
 "We have set a target to increase it to Rs.15,000 crore by March 2012," he added.
 
 Bhasin said the bank's Chandigarh zone, which at present covers Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh will be bifurcated soon.
 
 "One zone to operate from Ludhiana (in Punjab) office will look after Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir states. There will be around 43 branches in this zone. The other zone will look after Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana," he said.
 
 Bhasin said that there were 77 branches and 25 ATMs in Chandigarh zone and they would increase this number to 82 branches and 100 ATMs before March 2012.
 
 He said Indian Bank did business of Rs.5,000 crore in the Chandigarh zone in fiscal 2010-11 and the target for this fiscal is Rs.7,500 crore.
 
 "The bank's overall business, during 2009-10, was 150,000 crore and it increased to 182,000 crore in 2010-11 and we saw a growth of around 22 percent. This year we have a target of taking it to 225,000 crore," Bhasin said.
 
 The bank had 1,863 branches and the number would be taken to 2,000 by March 2012, he said.