National Bank Limited (NBL) plans to go for massive expansion in rural areas, eyeing more income from remittance services, NBL officials said yesterday. "If we get permission to open 10 branches out of 25 we have applied for, we'll open most of the branches in rural areas in 2008,' NBL Managing Director Abdur Rahman Sarkar told reporters at a function marking the bank's 25 years in operations. Sarkar said: "We opened five branches in rural areas out of 15 branches opened in 2006. In 2007, the bank opened five branches in rural areas out of 10.' "Our rural expansion will target remittances as most expatriate Bangladeshis send money to their relatives in rural areas,' AKM Shafiqur Rahman, executive vice-president and secretary of the bank, said. The bank will celebrate its silver jubilee programme on March 23. Tk 2,756 crore was remitted through the NBL channel in 2007, a 29 percent increase from Tk 2,135 crore in 2006. The bank has remittance arrangements with some 38 different banks and exchange houses around the world to facilitate quick services, officials said. Private commercial banks are increasingly trying to earn more from the remittance services. In fiscal 2006-07, Bangladesh's remittances stood at over $6 billion. The amount may cross $7 billion this fiscal year. Earlier, state-run banks used to channel most of the remittances. But now private commercial banks strive to grab the remittance market share. The NBL officials said the management of the bank has decided to open more branches in rural areas to contribute to the rural economic growth as well. "NBL is keen to provide credit to agriculture sector for the improvement of the socio-economic activities of the country,' Shafiqur Rahman said. NBL, which was established on March 23, 1983, has now a total of 101 branches and assets over Tk 5,653 crore. The bank has had a profit growth of 143.97 percent in 2007, which the officials said is the highest in the bank's history. Total operating profit of the bank stood at Tk 221.51 crore in 2007 from Tk 114.68 crore in the previous year. According to the annual report 2007 of the bank, classified loans have been reduced to Tk 165 crore in 2007 from Tk 196 crore in 2006. Deputy managing directors of the bank Mohsin-Ul-Karim and Azizur Rahman were also present at the function.