State-owned Punjab National Bank plans to open a representative office in Dubai, as part of its plan to expand its global footprint. The bank has got the board of directors' approval for opening a representative office in Dubai and the process is on for seeking regulatory clearance, PNB managing director Atul Kumar Goel told PTI. Hopefully, he said, the representative office should come up during the current financial year, if all regulatory approvals are in place. As on March 31, 2024, PNB had presence in six countries by way of two subsidiaries (London-UK and Bhutan), one joint venture (Nepal), two representative offices (Myanmar and Bangladesh). Talking about the strategy to improve profitability, he said, the focus would be on expanding retail, agriculture, MSME (RAM) portfolio, extending good corporate loans, controlling slippages and improving recovery. Besides, he said, the thrust would also be on improving the forex income and garnering higher fee income from selling ...