Credit growth likely to be 15-16% this fiscal, says DCB Bank CEO

DCB Bank is likely to end the current financial year with a 15-16 per cent growth in loans and over 20 per cent growth in deposits. The bank is looking to lend more to the micro, small and medium enterprises and retail segments, said Mr Murali Natarajan, Managing Director and CEO.

SB rates

The private sector bank is not looking to increase savings bank deposit rates and will wait for bigger banks to take the lead, he said on the sidelines of a press conference to announce its pre-paid card, jointly with ItzCash and Visa.

The share of MSME and SME loans is 25 per cent and the target is to increase it to 40 per cent in three years. The segment has seen a year-on-year growth of 30 per cent.

Prepaid card

The card is a prepaid card in the open loop category, which means it can be used at 5 lakh Point of Sales (POS) terminals that are part of the Visa network. It will be accepted at over 10,000 ItzCash merchants for digital payments.

The initial load is Rs 1,000 and it can be reloaded with a minimum amount of Rs 250 and a maximum of Rs 50,000.

It comes with a five-year validity and can also be used to withdraw cash from over 65,000 ATMs and PoS.

Cardholders also have the option to open no-frills accounts with DCB Bank.

To begin, it will be available at all ItzCash franchisees and within three months it will be available at all DCB branches.

The issue charge for the card is Rs 50 in the initial phase of the launch and it would be later hiked to Rs 100. The annual fee is Rs 20.

DCB Bank will target to issue at least 10 lakh Freedom Prepaid Cards and open about one lakh no-frills savings bank accounts, Mr Natarajan said.

The bank currently has a CASA share (current and savings account) of 33 per cent.

“Our focus is on getting more CASA,” Mr Natarajan said.

priyan@thehindu.co.in