By PTI

New Delhi: Country’s second largest public sector lender Punjab National Bank is expected to start operations in Bhutan by March next year, for which it has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the local partner.

“We have recently signed an MoU with the a prominent local business house and are in the process of obtaining regulatory approval from the Bhutan for the operation,” Punjab National Bank General Manager Ranjan Dhawan told PTI.

The bank already has got regulatory approval from the Reserve Bank of India.

“The JV (Joint Venture) with the paid-up capital of Rs30 crore has been named as Druk PNB Ltd and hopefully should be operational in the January-March quarter 2009,” he added.

“To start with the venture would have two-to-three branches that would be ramped up in due course of time,” he added.

Besides, the bank is also in the process of starting overseas operations in four locations in the immediate future. These include Norway, Dubai, Shanghai and Singapore.

It has also applied for regulatory approval for a representative office in Norway.

RBI has already accorded approval for upgrading the bank’s Shanghai (China) representative office to a branch.

PNB is also planning to upgrade its representative office in Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) into a branch.

At the same time, the bank has exited from the Malaysian joint venture led by Bank of Baroda.