South based lender, Vijaya Bank has decided to focus on widening its reach in the northern stretch of the country. According to a top official of the bank, 74% of its new branches will be located in the that part of India.

"We are opening up to 90 branches in the current fiscal and 75 per cent of them would be in north India," the bank's Chairman and Managing Director, Albert Tauro said.

The bank has already opened 15 new branches in the country this fiscal taking its current branch network to 1,170, he said.

Tauro also said that the base rate of 8.25% which is higher than its counterparts has resulted in the bank losing business to peers in the short term lending arena.

He, however said that this will not affect the profitability of the bank.