Chennai: Bank of Baroda is planning to hire around 20,000 people over the next four years and will add more than 500 domestic and international branches and offices in the current fiscal, a top official said today.

Besides, the Australian regulator had issued licence to the bank, paving the way for it to open an office there, Bank of Baroda Chairman and Managing Director M D Mallya said.

The bank is planning to hire around 20,000 people over the next four years, he added.

BOB has a network of 4,000 branches in India and 96 foreign branches and offices, Mallya told reporters after inaugurating " Baroda Pride," the new Zonal Office here.

"We plan to add another 500 domestic branches by March 2013, and four new foreign offices are coming up -- one each at Uganda and Kenya and two in Dubai -- taking the total international network to 100," he said, adding that BoB had presence in 25 countries.

The bank also proposed to open 500 ATMs to its existing chain of over 2,000 facilities by March 2013, he said.

A slew of security enhancements including installation of CCTV cameras in ATMs were in the offing, Mallya said.

He said the bank has been posting good growth over the years and its total business was around Rs 6.72 lakh crore, with international transactions accounting for 28 per cent.

The Bank had posted growth rates better than industry trends "despite the ups and downs of the economic cycle and mainly due to our prudent policies", Mallya said.

With a net NPA (non-performing assets) rate of 0.54 per cent, it was the "lowest" in terms of NPAs among peer banks, he claimed.

He said the rate of assets restructured is 5.5 per cent but this is "not significant and compared to peer banks, we are in a favourable position. We have strong, robust assets quality in books".

Responding to a query on the bank's credit portfolio, he said it is "well-balanced," and projected a 19 per cent year-on-year growth in this area.

The bank was offering concession on vehicle and home loan rates as part of festive offers.