Public sector lender Indian Bank said it would continue to make huge investments in IT infrastructure, building digital banking capabilities in FY24, as the Chennai-headquartered bank believes that a successful digital transformation would lead to increased profitability and provide strategic growth advantages.

The bank spent about ₹1,600 crore in IT infrastructure and associated areas during the last three years and plans to spend ₹500-600 crore in IT and digital banking segments this fiscal.

After the successful completion of the amalgamation of Allahabad Bank with itself, Indian Bank launched Project WAVE (World of Advanced Virtual Experience) in January 2022 by defining a digital transformation roadmap for the bank. It undertook its digital journey with a three-pillar strategy — strengthening its digital foundational capabilities, rolling out digital products, and accelerating digital adoption by clients.

Mahesh Kumar Bajaj, Executive Director of Indian Bank, told businessline that the bank created a dedicated digital organisation set-up with 100 members, while opting for lateral engagement of specific skill-sets. went for lateral engagement. It also identified 900-plus dedicated “digital banking champions” and on-boarded them to drive the digital agenda at the branch level.

The first digital offering in the form of a pre-approved personal loan was launched in April 2022 and the WAVE project has resulted in 25 unique digital offerings in the first year, encompassing Retail, Agri, MSME, liability, and third-party products, besides partnership-driven journeys.

“We have seen significant digital business momentum so far. We have so far launched 25-plus digital journeys and it helped us achieve total digital transactions of ₹5,600 crore, touching about four lakh customers in FY23. This has been achieved in less than a year,” said Bajaj.

Response to app

Indian Bank’s mobile app, IndOASIS, has secured a very good user rating (4.3). “Our platform witnesses 1.25 crore UPI financial transactions per day and 22 crore mobile transactions per month. During the March 2023 quarter, 85 per cent of the total transactions were through digital channels,” he added.

With strong momentum in its digital banking, Indian Bank has set an ambitious target to achieve seven-fold growth in digital business in FY24. During the current fiscal, at least 20-25 additional digital journeys across verticals will be added to create an enhanced customer experience.

“We have a mobile user base of 1.22 crore currently; we plan to increase it to 2 crore. Similarly, in Internet banking too, the bank would multiply its active users,” he said.

Going forward, the digital journeys which are launched for ETB (existing-to-bank) customers will gradually be extended to NTB (new-to-bank) customers.

Digital omnichannel platform

Bajaj said that Indian Bank is developing a digital banking omnichannel platform to provide a seamless and similar user experience across all channels (mobile banking/tab banking/kiosks/internet banking etc).

The digital omnichannel platform, coupled with the supply chain finance and cash management services, will offer a unique one-stop solution for all financial needs including wealth management, marketplace, logistics, forecasts, etc.

The first version of the Super App will be launched for customers during the second quarter of this fiscal. “It will be a game-changing app in our digital banking offerings,” he added.

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