Public sector lender, Indian Bank wishes to expand its overseas reach. The Chennai based bank is all set to open a full fledged branch in Jaffna, which is the capital of the northern province of Sri Lanka.

This would be the second branch of the bank in the country. It already has a branch in Colombo.

After SriLanka, the bank is targeting Jakarta in Indonesia. The branch is Jakarta is expected to be the representative office.

“We have got all necessary clearances from different departments of the Indian government including the finance ministry’s go-ahead to RBI. We are expecting to get the licence within a fortnight’s time. In such an eventuality, we are hopeful of setting up a branch there by November,” TM Bhasin, chairman & managing director of Indian Bank, said.

While talking about the idea behind opening a branch in Jaffna, Bhasin said, “There are a lot of opportunities coming in Jaffna. About Rs 1,000 crore has been earmarked for housing development in Jaffna — mostly for rehabilitation of the Indians. Besides, there are a lot of opportunities for entrepreneurship development”.