Kerala-based private sector lender, Dhanalakshmi Bank plans to raise Rs 400 crore tier II capital in 2009-10 to fuel its business growth, a top bank official said.

The capital will be raised in three tranches and will help the lender to expand its advance book, Dhanalakshmi bank's chief financial officer, Bipin Kabra told reporters here.

Presently, the bank has a tier I capital-base of Rs 425 crore. The bank has targeted to attain a 50 per cent credit growth in the current fiscal with a greater focus on its corporate portfolio, Kabra said.

"We plan to expand our corporate loan book. A similar focus will be given to the retail portfolio post-September after expanding our branch network," Kabra said.

Corporate portfolio currently contributes 30 per cent of Dhanalakshmi bank's total advance portfolio.

The lender plans to set up 66 branches in the next few months, which will take the total branch network to 273.

It has entered into a tie-up with Germany-based IT major, Wincor Nixdorf's associate firm AGS to expand its ATM network to 352 from around 72 at present, he said.

With a view to strengthen its marketing team, the bank plans to hire 1,500 professionals in the current year. It currently employs 1,400 people, Kabra said.

In the face of a high interest rate regime, the bankhas decided not to grow its bulk deposit base and would focus on increasing its current and savings account deposits (CASA), Kabra said.

CASA, which is currently at 24 per cent of the total deposit base, is expected to grow to 28 per cent by the end of this financial year, he said.

Dhanalakhsmi has a comfortable capital adequacy ratio of 15.38 per cent.