Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) plans to focus on three areas to drive revenues and grow its assets. It is also looking to raise ₹500-750 crore capital this fiscal.

The bank aims to grow its SME and retail portfolios, where stronger focus will be lent to gold loans, home loans and SME credit, among others. It is also looking at transforming its SME lending model. There is also a conscious de-focussing on the wholesale corporate segment. “At present, the corporate portfolio accounts for 51 per cent. We will be happy if it comes down to 47-48 per cent by the end of this fiscal,” Parthrasathi Mukherjee, Managing Director & CEO, told BusinessLine during the launch of its first commercial banking branch in Chennai.

The bank will aggressively push current account, savings account (CASA) deposits. It ended 2016-17 with a CASA ratio of 17.5 per cent, and hopes to improve this to 25 per cent by 2020. Towards this, several initiatives, including rolling out digital products, have been taken.

LVB sees opportunities to grow its fee income too. “We are looking to grow transaction banking in a big way and will focus on cash management, remittances, non-fund businesses, and sale of third-party products. All of these will help grow our revenues,” said Mukherjee.

Though it is adequately capitalised, the bank may look at raising ₹500-750 crore this fiscal. Despite the rise in digital transactions, LVB will continue to open new branches and hire people. “We will add about 50 branches a year,” he said.

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