Union Bank of India, a mid-sized state-owned lender, has plans to expand into investment banking to tap a growing global market in which increasingly aggressive Indian companies are acquiring foreign rivals.

Mavila Vishwanathan Nair, chairman and managing director, said in an interview that UBI planned to open offices in 10 countries by 2011 and would begin offering advisory services to corporate clients in about a year. He said the bank’s ultimate goal was to get into investment banking.