The Hindu Business Line : DCB sees western corridor presence as an advantage

When you see many banks talking of a ‘pan-India’ presence, you may wonder if geographical concentration of a bank in a particular region is a disadvantage. The private sector Development Credit Bank (DCB) begs to differ.

It has nearly 75 per cent of its 80 branches in the western corridor. It thinks that it is actually in an advantageous position in this matter. The reason is the growth story happening in the region.

Mr Gautam Vir, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of DCB, told Business Line that the bank has a strong presence in the Ahmedabad and Pune belt.

The bank has focused on growth areas, which, in the years to come, will go more into the interior of India as the benefits of growth get spread into smaller towns.

Mr Vir said: “We see growth in the region has been higher and will continue to exceed the rest of the country.” For him, the growth expectations along the western India corridor are in the range of 11-12 per cent.

Stating that DCB has kept on with the growth momentum, he said excellent performance is possible only when everyone puts his/her shoulder at the task. This was visible in the net profit for third quarter of 2007-08, which was 828 per cent higher on a year-on-year basis.

DCB has a presence in and around all metro locations and would like to build its presence to 150 branches by moving into SME clusters all over India. “We will aspire to build a national footprint after we attain a Rs 20,000-crore size over the next three years,” he said.

USP

He thinks the main selling points of the bank are its quality of service and the location of branches.

What about the threat of takeover? Mr Vir said: “Banks are of two types – consolidator or consolidatee. DCB sees itself as a consolidator. Our strategic intent is to deepen DCB’s footprint. The bank is open to taking over institutions with lower market capitalisation provided the valuations are reasonable.”