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Mr Pranam Wahi

Our Bureau

Chennai, Sept. 8 Singapore-based DBS Bank expects to launch its retail banking operations in early 2009.

Addressing a press conference on the opening its first branch in Chennai, Mr Pranam Wahi, General Manager and Chief Executive Officer, DBS Bank India, said that the proposed retail banking would not conflict with those of Cholamandalam DBS Finance Ltd, the Singapore bank’s NBFC (equal) joint venture with the Chennai-based Murugappa group.

Unlike the NBFC, DBS Bank will not do vehicle financing and will cater to a different segment of clientele for unsecured loans.

Describing the two entities of DBS in India as “mutually exclusive arrangements”, Mr Wahi said that bank’s retail focus would be on wealth management, mortgages and unsecured loans. Hitherto, the bank had been pursuing opportunities in corporate and SME funding, he said. (The bank defines SMEs as entities up to Rs 750 crore of turnover.)

DBS Bank India ended 2007-08 with deposits of about Rs 2,900 crore, advances of Rs 2,690 crore and a net profit of about Rs 74 crore.

Mr Wahi observed that ‘retail’ is a “long gestation business” and said that in 10 years he expected the bank’s business to be equally split between corporate, SMEs and consumer financing.

The bank has six branches at present and plans to open four more at Salem, Moradabad, Pune and Surat by end of next month.

In 2007, there were 30 foreign banks with 279 branches in the country and accounted for 8 per cent of the total assets of scheduled commercial banks.

More Stories on : Foreign Banks

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