Karnataka Bank Ltd

History of Karnataka Bank Ltd

Karnataka Bank Limited, a premier private sector bank, is a leading 'A' Class Scheduled Commercial Bank in India. The Bank is engaged in providing, a wide range of banking and financial services involving retail, corporate / wholesale banking, para-banking activities, treasury operation and foreign exchange business. Karnataka Bank Limited was incorporated on February 18, 1924 as The Karnataka Bank Limited at Karnataka in Mangalore. The Bank was established to cater to the banking needs of the South Kanara Region. In May 23, 1924, the Bank obtained the certificate to commence business. In April 4, 1966, they received their license to carry on the banking business in India. The Bank was promoted by B R Vysarayachar and other leading members of the South Kanara Region. Under the able guidance of K S N Adiga, the second chairman of the Bank who held the post for a period of 21 years, the Bank made significant progress thereby providing a strong foundation and as a result grew in stature in terms of number of branches, deposits, advances etc. In the year 1964, the Bank took over the assets and liabilities of the Chitaldurg Bank Ltd. In the 1966, they took over the assets and liabilities of the Bank of Karnataka Ltd, Hubli and opened 14 new branches in places where the Bank of Karnataka Ltd was formerly functioned. In the year 1997, the Bank became an authorized dealer of foreign exchange and established specialized branches for financing foreign exchange, industry and ag ...riculture, etc. In the year 1989, they opened a merchant banking division. In the year 1995, the Bank came out with the public cum right issue aggregating Rs 81 crore. In the year 2000, they signed an MoU with Infosys Technologies Ltd for implementation of Finacle, a Core Banking Solution. In the year 2002, they made a pact with Corporation Bank for sharing ATM's. Also, they made a tie-up with MetLife India for the distribution of insurance products as a corporate agent. In the year 2003, the Bank took up Corporate Agency for distribution of products of Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co Ltd. The Bank in association with MetLife India launched K-Life a term product designed for SB/current account holders of the bank. Also, the Bank launched a credit product 'KBL Insta Cash' for consumption purposes, and 'KBL Vahana Mitra' for the purchase of new vehicles. The Bank along with Western Union Financial Services made tie-up with Bharat Overseas Bank to provide inbound money transfer services. In the year 2004, the Bank launched the 'Gold Card Scheme' for the exporters. In the year 2005, the Bank launched real time gross settlement (RTGS) system under the name of Money Quick. Also, they inked an agreement with National Financial Switch for ATM connectivity and launched 'no frills' accounts. In the year 2006, they made a tie up with Franklin Templeton (I) Private Limited for distribution of their mutual funds. They launched CDSL-DP services at select branches. In the year 2007, the Bank signed MoU with Allahabad Bank, Indian Overseas Bank, Sompo Japan Insurance Inc. and Dabur Investment Corporation to form a joint venture for undertaking General Insurance business. During the year 2008-09, the Bank opend 16 branches at Moradabad, New Delhi - Karol Bagh, Thane, Mumbai - Vile Parle, Bommasandra, Bangalore - Chandra Layout, Bangalore - Sadashivanagar, Mysore - J P Nagar, Belgaum - Udyambag (Extension Counter upgraded), New Delhi - East of Kailash, Bangalore -Yelahanka New Town, Pune-Dhankawadi, Doddaballpur, Uppal Kalan, Bellandur and Hoskote. The Bank added 30 ATM outlets at various locations. Also, they shifted 15 branches/ offices to new premises. The Bank won the prestigious Sun and NDTV Green IT award instituted by Sun Microsystems and NDTV, for use of eco efficient green technologies to run business. During the year 2009-10, the Bank opened 17 branches in Patna, Kanakapura, Tambaram, Vellore, Dhanbad, Kolkata - Bhowanipore, Naganathapura, Gundlupet, New Delhi - Ashokvihar, Ujjain, Ghaziabad, Kancheepuram, Chennai - Annanagar (West), Brahmapur, Serillingampally, Durg and Rajarhat - Kolkata. The Bank added 46 ATM outlets at various locations. Also, they shifted 16 branches/offices to new premises. In April 2010, the opened their 9th Regional Office at Hyderabad. The Bank bagged 'Special Award for use of IT for Internal effectiveness' for the year 2009, instituted by Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT). As on March 31, 2010, the Bank had 464 branches, 217 ATM outlets, 8 Regional Offices, one International Division, one Data Centre, one Customer Care Centre, 5 Service branches, 2 Currency Chests, 6 Extension Counters and two Central processing centers, spread across 20 states and 2 Union Territories. Further, for better ambience and improved customer service. In September 2010, the Bank launched a new product exclusively for women, i.e. the new saving bank account for women named KBL Vanitah to encourage saving habit among the womenfolk and also to allay the fear of managing their wealth. The Bank plans to increase their total number of business units to 780, by increasing the total number of branches to 480 and own ATM network to 300 by March 2011. The Bank opened 50 new branches in 9 States - one each in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala and Chandigarh (U.T.), 34 in Karnataka, three in Maharashtra, four in Tamil Nadu, two each in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Out of the 34 new branches opened in Karnataka, 13 are in Unbanked Rural Centres under Financial Inclusion Initiatives of the Bank. The Bank opened two more Regional Offices at Udupi & Tumakuru. Further, the Bank added 275 ATM outlets at various locations during the year 2015-16. The Bank has also 24x7 e-lobby facility at 25 locations. The Bank issued 9,42,35,441 equity shares of Rs10 each at a price of Rs70 per share including the premium of Rs60 per equity share on Rights basis in the ratio of 1 equity share for every 2 equity shares held aggregating Rs659.65 crore as per SEBI (ICDR) Regulations, 2009. The issue was subscribed by 1.85 times. After keeping in abeyance 98,575 entitlements pertaining to equity shares kept under Suspense Account, Board of Directors allotted 9,41,36,866 equity shares on 8 December 2016. The Bank opened 40 new branches in 9 States one each in the States of Punjab and West Bengal, 2 each in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Delhi [U.T], Kerala and Tamil Nadu, 3 in Gujarat, 4 in Maharashtra and 23 in Karnataka. Out of these 40 branches, 10 branches [9 in the state of Karnataka and one in Kerala] have been opened in Unbanked Rural Centres under Financial Inclusion Initiatives of the Bank. Further, the Bank has added 117 ATM outlets at various locations during the year 2016-17. The Bank has also 24x7 e-lobby/mini e-lobby facility at 110 locations. Bank also has 10,314 POS (Point of Sale) machines across India. The Bank opened 36 new branches in 11 states - one each in the States of Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Delhi and Sikkim, 2 each in the States of Kerala, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, 4 in Maharashtra and 19 in Karnataka. Out of these 36 branches, 8 branches have been opened in unbanked rural centres under financial inclusion initiatives of the Bank. The Bank has rolled out the Single Window Service concept at 44 branches during the Financial Year 2017-18 thus extending this facility to 64 branches as on 31 March 2018. During the year 2019, the Bank opened 39 new branches in 5 States - 1 in the State of Gujarat, 2 in the state of Rajasthan, 3 in the state of Andhra Pradesh, 4 in the state of Telangana and 29 in the state of Karnataka. Out of these 39 branches, 9 branches have been opened in unbanked rural centres under financial inclusion initiatives of the Bank and 1 branch has been opened under Left Wing Extremism (LWE) an ected district. As on 31 March 2019, your Bank had 836 banking outlets and 1 extension counter spread across 22 States and 2 Union Territories. During the year 2019, Bank has tied up with PNB Metlife India Insurance Co. Ltd. and LIC of India for distribution of life insurance products and Universal Sompo General Insurance Co. Ltd. and Bajaj Allianz General Insurance Co. Ltd. for distribution of general insurance products. Bank has also tied up with various Mutual Fund houses for distribution of mutual fund units. During April 2019, the Bank tied up another insurance partner viz., Bharti AXA Life Insurance Co. Ltd. for the distribution of its life insurance products in the branches of the Bank. During the year 2019, the Bank migrated Finacle Core Banking Solution to an upgraded version w.e.f. 10 February 2018 and the new version is providing better customer service. The Bank has undertaken several others IT projects like UPI iOS application, withdrawal of Cash from POS machines etc. Several enhancements have been made in Internet Banking, which includes on boarding, enabling of Digi-Locker and Green Pin features. Mailkoot service, which is bulk email facility, is implemented for Digital Marketing. Robotic Process Automation is implemented in several fields like Active Directory user maintenance. Bank has also taken up e-Waste management to ensure safe disposal of hazardous electronic waste. During the FY2019, the the Bank has allotted 72,000 (Seventy Two Thousand) rated, unsecured, redeemable, non-convertible, BASEL III Compliant, Lower Tier 2 Subordinated Bonds in the nature of Debentures of Rs 1,00,0000 each, aggregating Rs 720 crore in two tranches under Series V (Rs 400 crore) and Series VI (Rs 320 crore). As at 31 March 2020, the Bank had 2329 service outlets including 848 branches, one extension counter, 1,026 ATMs and 454 cash recyclers with a presence in 554 centres spread across 22 States and 2 Union Territories. As at 31 March 2021, the Bank had 2,337 service outlets including 858 branches, one extension counter, 1,001+ATMs and 477 cash recyclers with a presence in 548 centres spread across 22 States and 2 Union Territories. In FY 2021, Karnataka Bank formed a non-financial wholly owned subsidiary - KBL Services Ltd, which commenced its operations on 30.03.2021 at Bengaluru. The Bank opened 16 Branches, one Currency Chest at Mysuru and one Asset Recovery Management at Chennai. Further, 6 branches were merged with the nearby branches in 2021. As at March 31, 2022, the Bank had 2326 service outlets including 877 branches, one extension counter, 885 ATMs and 563 Cash Recyclers (CRs) with a presence in 567 centres spread across 22 States and 2 Union Territories. Apart from the above,Bank has one co-located Data Centre with a Disaster Recovery Centre and Near Line Site (NLS), two Service branches, four Currency Chests, two Central Processing Centers, one Digital Centre of Excellence and seven Asset Recovery Management Branches. During the year 2021-22, Bank opened twenty new branches, moved integrated treasury by merging domestic treasury to Mumbai, three Central Loan Processing Hubs and one Central Loan Sanctioning Centre for sanctioning of retail loans. As of 31st March 2023, Bank had 2376 service outlets including 901 branches, 871 ATMs, 603 cash recyclers (CRs) and one extension counter, with a presence in 578 centres spread across 22 States and 2 Union Territories. The Bank opened 24 new branches in 2023. As on March 31, 2024, the Bank had 2,417 service outlets including 921 branches, one extension counter, 856 ATMs and 639 recyclers with a presence in 593 centres spread across 22 States and 2 Union Territories. Apart from the above, the Bank also has one Data Centre with a Disaster Recovery Centre and Near Line Site (NLS), two Service branches, five Currency Chests, two Central Processing Centres, one Digital Centre of Excellence, Nine Asset Recovery Management Branches and 3 Central Loan Processing Hubs and one Central Loan Sanctioning Centre for Sanctioning of retail loans. During the financial year 2023-24, Bank has opened 20 new branches. The Bank launched 15 new products - five each in liabilities, retail and MSME in FY25. The Bank expanded its debit card network which stands at 55 lakh+ and recorded 7 lakh+ users in net banking services - a notable increase. Bank launched Credit line on UPI, a fully digital short-term loan, as an early mover in partnership with one of India's leading fintech player in 2025. The Bank has prioritized diversification of investment portfolio across sovereign, SDL and high-grade corporate instruments. It optimized the surplus liquidity deployment for yield enhancement. It maintained tight control over foreign currency exposure and swap positions. Bank operated hrough 952 branches strategically distributed across urban, semi-urban and rural markets. It established Retail Asset Centres (RACs) to enhance retail banking services and provide a customer-focused approach to loan products. Bank has completed the replacement of all end-of-life (EOL) routers and is implementing Software Defined Wide Area Network (SDWAN) technology to ensure robust connectivity and enhanced security across the network. National Back Office, which established in Mangalore played a pivotal role in infrastructure investment, centralising critical operations including customer onboarding, clearing, alternate delivery channels, ATM operations, RTGS/NEFT transaction handling and treasury operations. Bank focused on private cloud infrastructure expansion and data management, through investments in Nutanix, VMware, Oracle Private Cloud Appliance (PCA) and Oracle Exadata Cloud at Customer (ExaCC) platforms. As on 31st March 2025, Bank had 2468 service outlets including 952 branches, one extension counter, 837 ATMs and 679 recyclers with a presence across 22 States and 2 Union Territories. Apart from the above, the Bank also has one Data Centre with a Disaster Recovery Centre and Near Line Site (NLS), two Service branches, five Currency Chests, two Central Processing Centers, one Digital Centre of Excellence, Thirteen Asset Recovery Management Branches and 5 Retail Loan Processing and Sanction Centre (RLPSC), one Central Loan Processing and Sanctioning Centre for Sanctioning of retail loans (CLPSC)and 2 Retail Assets Centre (RAC). During the financial year 2024-25, Bank has opened 31 new branches.