Mumbai, June 11 :    Mumbai, June 11:  Recuperating from the aborted merger with Global Trust Bank, UTI Bank now plans to rope in a strategic partner to bring down the promoters' stake in the bank to 40 per cent, in consonance with the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) regulations. Sources close to the bank said it is in discussions with potential investors to bring down the promoters' stake. However, they did not reveal whether the promoters' stake will be brought down by a fresh issue of shares or by the promoters divesting their stake in favour of the partner. Speculations, are however, rife that the foreign strategic partner is also likely to partner the bank in other areas, including insurance. The bank's paid-up capital stands at Rs 131.9 crore. The bank has been promoted by UTI, LIC and GIC, with UTI holding the lion's share of around 61 per cent. Officials, however, clarified the bank was not considering a merger with another bank as all its efforts were presently on identifying a strategic investor apart from expanding the branch network. The RBI had stipulated that promoters' stake in private sector banks should be brought down to 40 per cent by March this year. However, a few private sector banks, which have yet to comply with this requirement, had subsequently approached the central bank seeking an extension of this time limit. A senior RBI official here told The Telegraph that the central bank had asked these banks to present a time-bound programme by which the promoters' stake would be brought down to the stipulated level. Of these banks, while ICICI Bank has already initiated the process of bringing the promoters' stake below 40 per cent by selling some shares to foreign portfolio investors, IDBI Bank recently indicated it was also weighing various means to do the same. The bank is, however, yet to identify how this will be achieved. UTI Bank officials said the bank was planning to add 15 more branches to its existing 89 apart from setting up more ATMs. 'With the failed merger behind us, we now plan to extend our branch network and other facilities for the retail customer,' the official said. The bank's ATM network now stands at over 300, from 69 a year ago. UTI bank posted a 69 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 86.12 crore for the year ended March 31, 2001. However, net profit growth was flat for the fourth quarter, which the company attributed to certain equity investments in its portfolio that showed a depreciation.