Pune-headquartered Bank of Maharashtra opened its 2,000th milestone branch at the temple town of Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh.

The branch will extend new-age banking convenience to a diverse customer base, said Bank of Maharashtra executive director Hemant Tamta.

The branch at Tirumala, where the shrine of Sri Venkateswara Swamy is located, was inaugurated by AV Dharma Reddy, additional executive officer, Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams (TTD).

Bank of Maharashtra has emerged as among the top public sector bank performers in terms of loan and savings deposit growth during the second quarter of the current financial year. The bank’s gross advances grew 11.46% year-on-year to Rs 1,15,236 crore in the September quarter, with total business standing at Rs 2.97 lakh crore, up 13.27% from the year-ago period.

On the deposit front, Bank of Maharashtra reported 14.47% year-on-year growth. This was slightly behind Punjab and Sind Bank while the country's largest lender State Bank of India recorded an 9.69% rise. In absolute value, though, SBI's deposit base was 20 times higher at Rs 36.90 lakh crore as against Rs 1.81 lakh crore of Bank of Maharashtra.