Public sector, IDBI Bank has planned to hire 2,000 officers in the next six months in order to support the expansion of its branch expansion.

Chairman and Managing Director of IDBI Bank Ltd, Yogesh Agarwal said, "We have got licence from Reserve Bank of India to open 200 branches. The recruitment programme is aimed at securing the manpower to do so."

Presently the bank 500 branches across the country and the expansion plans for another 200 branches is delayed because of the want of staff. The bank is going to open up the new branches by May 2009.

The bank is also likely to raise the capital to support its expansion plans. "We are talking to the Government on this issue," he said.

Talking about the business growth, Agarwal said the corporate credit disbursement is at a high pace. "We are focusing on all sectors. However, the growth in sectors such as infrastructure and pharmaceuticals is relatively strong when compared with others such as textiles and automobiles," he said.

The bank has recently cut its home loan rates by 50 basis points. However as the realty prices were not coming down, growth rate of bank's new housing loans remained stagnant. "Infrastructure is still doing well while the pharmaceutical sector is quite alright. However, the bank is seeing stress in portfolios like automotive, real estate and textiles," he said.

At the same time IDBI has an exposure of Rs 250 crore with Matyas Infra Limited and Rs 50 crore to Maytas Properties. Both the companies are owned by the family members of Satyam Computer's Chairman, Ramalinga Raju.

Speaking about their exposure, Agarwal said, "There is no question of these advances becoming NPAs. Maytas is still a good company and is capable of executing the contracts, especially after recent changes in its board."

Meanwhile, the Capital to Risk-weighted Assets Ratio (CRAR) of the bank is standing at 12%.