State-run, Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) is planning to venture into Malyasia and for this purpose it has tied-up with two other public sector banks named as Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Andhra Bank.

IOB's Chairman and Managing Director S.A. Bhatt said, "We hope to get the green signal from the Malaysian authorities to start banking operations there by March."

Under the new joint venture, IOB will undertake 30% of the stake and BoB and Andhra Bank will hold 40% and 30% of the stakes respectively.

IOB's Chairman and Managing Director, S A Bhatt said that the bank wants to start its operations in Malyasia as part of its plans to expand internationally but Malaysian government requires a minimum capital of $100 million for any entity to venture into the country. This is a large amount for any individual bank to invest and therefore IOB has joined hands with other banks that were also keen into venturing in Malyasia.

Bhatt informed that for the third quarter ending on December 31st, operating profit from the overseas branches of the bank stood at Rs 53 crore as compared to Rs 34 crore, recorded during a year ago.

On the deposit front, the overseas branches clocked an increase to Rs 3,590 crore against Rs 2,700 crore, a year ago. Similarly the advances also showed a rise to Rs 5,225 crore from Rs 3,517 crore, a year ago.

During this quarter, IOB's net profit increase by 26% to Rs 388 crore as compared to Rs 308.18 crore recorded in the corresponding period, a year ago.

The bank is also planning to go in its overseas expansion plans and open branches in New Zealand. However the plans to start operations in Australia and US are kept deferred for now.

IOB has recently received a green signal from the Reserve Bank of India to acquire Pune-based, Shree Suvarna Sahakari Bank (SSSB).