Chennai: State-owned Indian Bank is expanding its operations in Southeast Asia and setting up branches in Malaysia and Indonesia. It is also establishing a representative office in the UAE in a bid to tap the potential business from the vast Indian diaspora in the Middle East.“We have taken our board’s approval for the purpose,” Binod Kumar, MD & CEO of Indian Bank, told TOI in an interview here on Thursday. “There is a sizable presence of the Indian diaspora in these countries. Indonesia is a large economy and a major player in coal, and we expect good business there. We will open one branch in each of these two countries over the next one or two years, subject to the necessary approvals from RBI. In the United Arab Emirates, we will have a representative office, which will not be a branch but will only source business, acting as an extended marketing arm,” he said. Currently, the bank runs three branches abroad. One of the pioneers in overseas operations, Indian Bank opened its first international branch at Colombo in Sri Lanka in 1932, followed by Singapore during 1942. In 2011, the Chennai-headquartered bank inaugurated its second branch in Sri Lanka at Jaffna. Meanwhile, Indian Bank reported a 7.3% rise in net profit at Rs 3,061 crore in the quarter ended Dec 2025 against Rs 2,852 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. While the operating profit grew by 5.8% YoY to Rs 5,024 crore in Q3 FY26 from Rs 4,749 crore during the year ago quarter, the net interest income increased by 7.5% YoY at Rs 6,896 crore in Dec 2025 against Rs 6,415 crore in the same quarter of the previous year.Gross NPA% decreased by 103 bps to 2.23% in Dec 2025 (3.26% in Dec 2024). Its total business stood at Rs 14.3 lakh crore as on Dec 31, 2025. “We are aspiring to touch Rs 15 lakh crore of total business by the end of FY26,” Kumar added.
