Coimbatore, March 20
Indian Bank continues to register strong growth despite global uncertainties, with steady expansion in advances and deposits, its Executive Director Ashutosh Choudhury said, noting that volatility due to the West Asia crisis has had only an indirect impact.
"In spite of this volatility, the growth of our bank is really very good. We are growing around 13 and a half per cent year on year," Choudhury told ANI in an exclusive interview.
Highlighting business performance, he said, "If you see the advances is almost 14 and a half per cent growth. Deposit is 12 and a half per cent growth. So the growth aspect is very good, visible, and we are confident that we will achieve our business target this financial year."
Speaking on the impact of the West Asia crisis, Choudhury pointed to sector-specific challenges. "One scenario which we are able to see is that the export to this Gulf countries, more particularly the food grains, those customers are there who are affected by this West Asia crisis," he said.
He also flagged concerns around energy prices but credited government support. "The other one is definitely the oil and gas... But with the help of government, the support of government, I think we are able to address to that particular situation," he noted.
On whether revenues have been impacted, Choudhury clarified that the effect is indirect. "The revenue has not come down but it has an indirect impact. Suppose your oil prices goes up, then the cost of production of the industry will go up... the profit of the industry will come down," he said, adding that this may affect borrowers and, in turn, banks.
On the MSME segment, Choudhury said the outlook remains strong with significant lending opportunities.
"The scenario is really good as far as MSME is concerned. If you see Indian Bank, the MSME portfolio is a little more than one lakh crore and we are growing at 16 and a half per cent," he said.
He added that there is a large unmet credit demand in the system. "There are almost 13 lakh crore of demand available in the systems, which the banking industry needs to cater... So the banking industry has a huge scope to lend towards MSME sector," he said.
Addressing rising concerns over digital fraud, he explained how mobile banking scams are carried out and the steps being taken to counter them.
"In mobile banking, generally what these fraudsters do, they take control of your mobile... when you click on that particular link, an APK files that gets downloaded... and with that files, they take control of your mobile," he said.
He said the bank is introducing safeguards to alert customers. "What our bank is doing is that we are giving a warning to the customer that this APK file... is installed in your system. So do you want to initiate a transaction?" he said.
Choudhury added that customer awareness is key to preventing fraud. "If he deletes that app, the control is gone... or inform to the bank... bank will also freeze that account," he said.
Overall, he expressed confidence in the bank's performance despite global headwinds, saying growth remains "very good" and targets are within reach.
- ANI
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