Public sector lender, Bank of India is sincerely planning to enter into offshore domains and this it plans to do by acquiring small and medium sized banks in African nations and also in New Zealand and Canada. Apart from expansion path, the bank is also willing to venture through organic routes, informed a senior official of the bank.

"We are shortly opening subsidiaries in New Zealand, Canada and a few countries in Africa. We want to consolidate in countries where there are opportunities," Mr N. Seshadri, Executive Director, Bank of India said.

"If at a reasonable size we can acquire and grow inorganically, we could do that," he added.

Industry reports suggest that an average small sized bank in Africa should be having 5-6 branches. The New Zealand option is lucrative in terms of location but "it would add a lot of value and make business sense, since we can cover Australia too. Both the countries have a substantial Indian population," pointed out Mr Seshadri. The bank also plans to convert its representative office in Johannesburg, South Africa, into a branch, he said.