Bank of Maharashtra to provide more loans to large corporates

At a time when major public sector banks and private banks are curtailing their exposure to large corporates, small banks like Bank of Maharashtra are stepping in to fill the void.

So far, the Pune-based bank focussed more on providing loans to agriculture, medium, micro and small-scale enterprises (MSMEs) and retail customers.

“We will increase our focus on providing loans to large corporates. We have a total market share of only 1.20 per cent. This is our opportunity to increase that,” Narendra Singh, Chairman and Managing Director, said. The corporate loan book of the bank is 37 per cent against the industry average of 50 per cent. The bank will grow its corporate loan book to 42 per cent of advances by end of this fiscal, said C.V.R. Rajendran, Executive Director.

“We take only 72 hours for either approving or rejecting loans up to Rs 250 crore,” said Singh.

Asset Quality

Slippages (gross NPAs) of the bank were at two per cent of total advances in the quarter ended September. After accounting for provisioning, NPAs (net) stood at 0.88 per cent. “The bank uses a judicious mix of SARFAESI Act, Lok Adalats, recovery camps and agents to recover its dues,” said Singh.

In this financial year, the bank is eyeing a cash recovery of Rs 600 crore against Rs 400 crore, a year earlier.

satyanarayan.iyer@thehindu.co.in