Media Release
Mangaluru, Oct 15: Karnataka Bank today performed the foundation stone laying ceremony of its proposed Centenary building. Established in 1924, the Bank will be observing its Centenary Year during the financial year 2023-2024. P Jayarama Bhat, chairman and Mahabaleshwara M S, MD and CEO, jointly laid the foundation stone of the centenary building proposed to be constructed adjacent to its present Head Office premises at Mahaveera Circle, Mangaluru on the auspicious day of Vijayadashami in the presence of Bank’s directors, senior executives and staff members.
The eventful journey of the bank to become one of the leading private sector banks of the country dates back to 1924 when its founding fathers started operations of the bank from a single branch at Dongerkery, Mangaluru in a very tiny premises primarily to cater to small farmers and traders. Bank witnessed a period of exponential growth under the visionary leadership of Late K Suryanarayana Adiga, the doyen of the bank and it was during his time the bank shifted its head office to a spacious own building of 35,000 sq.ft area at Kodialbail, Mangaluru. The said premises was inaugurated by Late T A Pai, the then minister, govt of India.
Growing in leaps and bounds in the next three decades bank decided to have a premises commensurate with its growth momentum and shifted its head office to a 1,19,000 sq ft own building at Mahaveera Circle, Mangaluru in the year 2003.
Laying the foundation stone for the centenary building, Mahabaleshwara M S, MD and CEO, said, “Karnataka Bank has always travelled ahead of time to cater to the varying demands of the customers from all walks of life. As the Bank steps into the second century of its purposeful existence, Bank is going through a new phase of growth backed by optimum use of new age digital technologies enabled by machine learning/ Artificial Intelligence and Business Intelligence. The proposed new building of 2,41,000 sq.ft area will be a state of the art infrastructure capable of housing the various operations for future banking. I am sure that the new building will also turn out to be a befitting monument representing the ethos and identity of the Bank and aligned with the imagination of its more than 11 million loyal customers”.
Rammohan Rao Belle, Keshav Krishnarao Desai, B R Ashok, Pradeep Kumar Panja, Dr D S Ravindran, Balakrishna Alse S, directors of the Bank, Balachandra Y V, chief operating officer, Gokuldas Pai, chief business officer, other senior executives and staff of the bank were also present on the occasion.