Comments
Repco Bank is targeting to close the current fiscal with a credit growth of 10 per cent, supported by stronger focus on mid-ticket loans and other business loans.
Though the first half saw a modest growth in credit, the Chennai-headquartered bank, which caters to repatriates and small businesses, is confident of achieving better growth in the second half due to receding effects of demonetisation and GST.
“We see bright prospects to improve credit offtake and cut NPA levels in the second half of this fiscal. Overall, the bank is looking at increasing credit growth to at least 10 per cent and ensure lowest levels of NPA,” RS Isabella, Executive Director and Managing Director In-Charge, Repco Bank, told BusinessLine .
Repco Bank’s total business stood at ₹13,515 crore in 2016-17, with total deposits at ₹8,166 crore and total advances at ₹5,349 crore.
The bank will focus on mid-size loans ranging from ₹75 lakh to ₹1 crore, she said.
During the first half of this fiscal, the bank reported a low single-digit growth in advances. However, its net profit stood at ₹69.5 crore and return on assets at 1.54 per cent.
Repco Bank has decided to reduce its exposure to jewel loans by more than 50 per cent and concentrate more on mortgage-type loans, which are provided for business and other needs.
The bank is also seeing momentum in lending to educational institutions and the hospitality segment.
The bank’s non-performing assets (NPAs) were slightly on the rise owing to the transitory effect of demonetisation and GST. A major portion of its NPAs is fully asset-backed. “The position is bound to improve in Q3 and Q4,” she added.
As of March 2017, its gross NPAs stood at 5.61 per cent and net NPAs, 1.16 per cent.
Isabella said ₹4.84 crore has been allocated to the Repatriates Welfare Trust for this fiscal. The bank allocates a portion of the profit to the trust every year which is spent on various welfare schemes for the repatriates.
Last year, it introduced a special life insurance (group) scheme and a small business loan scheme, and 26,000 repatriates benefited from these schemes in 2016-17.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.