Corporation Bank, which came into being on March 12, 1906, is among the four public sector banks that originated in coastal Karnataka. Headquartered in Mangaluru, the bank has a network of 2,432 branches, 3,049 ATMs, and 4,525 branchless banking units across the country. PV Bharathi, who assumed charge as Managing Director (MD) and CEO of Corporation Bank in February, is the first woman to head the bank in its history of 114 years. In a recent interview to BusinessLine , she spoke on various issues and her plans for the bank. Excerpts:

Now that you have taken over as MD and CEO of Corporation Bank, what are your plans for the bank?

Corporation Bank is one of the premier public sector banks in the country. The bank has its own value and respect in the banking industry. Its creativity, pro-activeness, and adaptability to various challenges over the years are unparalleled.

The bank is considered a trendsetter, one that is highly innovative. As we have now come out of the RBI’s prompt corrective action (PCA), our plan is to concentrate on the retail business portfolio by focussing on CASA (current account and savings account) and retail term deposits on the liability side, and agriculture, MSME (micro, small and medium enterprise) and retail lending on the asset side.

How do you rate the performance of the bank in the retail segment? What plans are in store to boost growth in this segment?

Delinquency under retail was higher during the last fiscal. The bank has taken necessary recovery steps and risk-mitigation measures to arrest the slippage, and the position is improving.

Since the bank had taken a cautious approach, the growth under retail segment was negative in the first three quarters of the current financial year. We are focussing on housing and personal vehicle segments under retail to boost growth. Now, our housing loan portfolio is around ₹13,000 crore. We are keen to increase it to at least ₹15,000 crore in 2019-20. Our aim is to grant housing loans within seven to 10 days to start with. Later on, we want to bring it down to five to seven days.

What plans do you have for the MSME sector? How did the bank perform in extending Mudra loans?

The bank has taken up digitisation of MSME loan-processing, from loan origination to loan disbursement, thereby reducing the turnaround time to the minimum.

There are more than 100 designated relationship officers in the specialised MSME branches who focus on cluster-based lending. The bank has also taken up one-time debt restructuring on a priority basis to facilitate stressed MSMEs to reorganise their businesses and project better growth.

Under Mudra Yojana, the bank disbursed loans to 68,759 entrepreneurs in the current fiscal, amounting to ₹1,544 crore. Of these, 49,131 are new entrepreneurs and 19,628 are women entrepreneurs. More than 17 per cent of entrepreneurs belong to the SC/ST category.

Agri lending of the bank stood at 17.06 per cent during Q3 of 2018-19, against the target of 18 per cent. How do you plan to increase agri lending?

The bank has been achieving the 18 per cent regulatory target stipulated under agriculture. It was only in the third quarter of the current financial year that we fell slightly below the regulatory target. The bank is focussing on increasing disbursements in Q4 through its 1,300-plus rural and semi-urban branches. We expect the bank to reach the target prescribed by the RBI.

What measures have been initiated to bring down the bank’s NPA percentage?

The bank has taken a number of initiatives to contain slippages and to improve the recovery mechanism. The entire team of the bank was put on a mission mode.

The bank strengthened recovery by focussing on a number of areas, including swift and stern action under the provisions of SARFAESI Act, aggressively pursuing compromise/one-time settlement, recovery through legal action, referring maximum number of accounts under National Lok Adalat/Lok Adalats, and resolution by referring to NCLT under IBC 2016, among others.

In fact, the ‘ Halla Bol’ recovery campaign, which was launched during 2016-17, has turned out to be a success with the wholehearted involvement of the rank and file.

Apart from this, the bank has separate verticals for credit monitoring and recovery. In addition to this, we have also created a separate Stressed Asset Management Vertical for the resolution of stressed assets. The capital infusion announced by the government has helped the bank bring down its net NPA ratio below 6 per cent.

Please explain the ‘Halla Bol’ recovery campaign. How much has been recovered till now, and what is the recovery target for the coming quarters?

The bank uses ‘Halla Bol’ as a peaceful way to raise its voice against NPAs. Under this, bank officials go to borrowers whose accounts have become NPAs, and discuss with them as to why they are not paying their dues.

The ‘Halla Bol’ initiative has given a lot of dividend on the recovery front. The total recovery of the bank was ₹1,590 crore in 2015-16. It increased to ₹3,300 crore in 2016-17, and to ₹4,500 crore in 2017-18. In 2018-19, we recovered more than ₹4,000 crore till December 31. We expect cash recovery and upgradation to cross ₹5,000 crore in the current financial year.

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