PNB to convert 2000 branches to core banking by Mar '06

Pragati Simlote

NEW DELHI: With a pan-India network of approximately 4,500 branches, Punjab National Bank (PNB) is planning to convert 2,000 of its branches into core banking system.

PNB started with the application of a core banking system in 2000 and around 1,350 branches are already on the system and are connected to the bank's data center. The bank further plans to put the other 650 branches on the system by March 2006.

PNB IT division general manager KS Bajwa said, “More than 70 percent of the bank's business is through the core banking system, while the rest 36 percent is through other bilingual software.”

PNB has its data center at New Delhi and a cold disaster recovery (DR) site in Mumbai, where the bank takes daily backup of its data.

According to PNB IT division chief CP Sharma, the Bank plans to convert this into a hot DR site by November 2005. “All branches would be connected to this DR site and in case of a calamity in two hours the bank's operations can be switched over to the DR site, which is an exact replica of the bank's data center,” he added.

For FY 2005-06, PNB has allocated Rs 260 crore for meeting its IT requirement. According to Bajwa, the bank endeavors to take care of its IT requirement internally with its team of 1,000 employees in the IT division spread all over country.

“But in case specific expertise is needed it does partner with some outside companies,” he added.

Sun is the hardware partner of PNB for servers, while Infosys provides the application software. For network connectivity, the bank uses BSNL leased and ISDN lines.

Recently, PNB has selected The Siemon Company's 10G ip copper and fiber end-to-end solutions, to cope with the increasing number of network users and real-time demands from customers. The solution will be implemented in the bank's NOC and data center located in New Delhi.