CHANDIGARH:Allahabad Bank said that it would open 15 new branches at several locations including rural, urban and semi-urban areas of the state for enhancing its reach across in rural and urban areas of Punjab.

Anil Kumar, Zonal Head of Ludhiana Zone, Allahabad Bank. Said that "The Bank has received licenses from the Reserve Bank of India to open 15 branches in the major potential centres of Punjab in this fiscal. In addition to it, three extension counters will also be upgraded as full-fledged branches,"

"Bank has an ambitious plan to have a network of 100 branches in Punjab by March 2009," Anil further aded.

As per the plan the branches would be opened at Haryana village in Hoshiarpur district, Hambhran and Samrala in Ludhiana, Shankar and Beas in Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ferozepur, Kotkapura in Faridkot, Gurdaspur, Tarntaran, Zirakpur in Patiala, Morinda in Rupnagar and three extension counters in Ludhiana, Dinanagar and Hoshiarpur would be upgraded to full-fledged branches, he said.

“With this expansion drive, the total number of branches in Punjab would reach 64. The banks, having a total business of Rs 3,800 crore in the state, and four branches in Amritsar and Ludhiana have been brought under CBS system," he said. He also said CBS would be introduced in 37 more branches in Punjab in this fiscal.