By IANS
Kolkata : Allahabad Bank, one of India’s leading public sector banks, Thursday tied up with the Indian subsidiary of global financial management company Franklin Templeton to penetrate untapped rural and semi-urban markets and boost up selling of third party products.
With the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU), Allahabad Bank has entered into a strategic partnership for distribution of the financial firm’s mutual fund products.
“The mutual fund industry is growing at a robust pace in India. But it has not been able to penetrate into the rural and semi-urban population. I think the middle class would be able to access the benefits of the mutual fund investments through the tie-up between Allahabad Bank and Franklin Templeton,” Allahabad Bank chairman and managing director A.C. Mahajan told reporters here.
He said the bank started diversifying its business in last three years and now it has tie-up agreements with four leading mutual fund companies – UTI AMC, PNB Principal AMC, Kotak Mahindra AMC and Reliance Capital Asset Management.
“The tie-up with Franklin Templeton will add another feather to the cap of Allahabad Bank,” Mahajan said.
Allahabad Bank, headquartered in Kolkata, has over 2,107 branches across India.
“The bank has an estimated total business of over Rs.1,000 billion and it has set a target to raise the business level to more than Rs.2,000 billion by March 2010,” Mahajan added.
“Through this distribution relationship with Allahabad Bank, we will be reaching out to a larger number of retail investors in India’s mutual fund industry,” Franklin Templeton India’s president Vivek Kudva said.
Franklin Templeton Investments, based in San Mateo, California in the US, is one of the leading financial services groups in the world. The group, with assets worth more than $620 billion, has presence in over 29 countries.