Bank of Baroda to grow by 18 per cent: CMD Mundra

Bank of Baroda, India's second largest lender, is expected to grow in the current year by 17 to 18 per cent as against the industry standard of 14 to 15 per cent, its top official said here today.

S S Mundra, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank said the growth of banks depends on the GDP growth rate, told PTI at the Bank of Baroda's branch in Park Avenue, Manhattan, New York.

The growth story will be different if the GDP is at eight to nine per cent than the present five per cent.

However, Bank of Baroda has been growing steadily at two to three percent above the industry growth rate and the management will ensure that it will be maintained, he said.

Mundra, on his first visit to the US after taking over as chairman and managing director of the bank, said US is a very important part of bank's international operations.

"30 per cent of the profits of the bank come from international operations as we are in 24 countries around the globe. Within that there are three important jurisdictions - the US, the UK and the UAE," he said.

He said his visit now is to understand the business, interact with high-profile US investors and clients besides familiarising himself with the US operations.

He said he interacted with local management to understand the bank's operations in the US and met with large investors who regularly invest in Indian entities.

"I have not come with the idea of any selling bonds or other proposals. I feel the investor community should be kept apprised of what's going on India and also the opportunities available to investors.

"My visit is also to remove substantial amount of confusion about India - what will happen to the economy and I clarified concerns and doubts. I told the investors that when we look at any thing from distance things may look more alarming than what they actually are," he said.

He said international bankers and American investors who are looking at emerging markets such as India keep track of all developments and they are aware of India and the opportunities available to foreign investors.

Mundra told investors that Indian economy has to grow as the country has not reached the stage where there is no demand or in a stage of stagnation or saturation.

"Its a growing economy and demography is very favourable and there is lot of urbanisation all pointing to demand. There were certain policy issues in the last few years that might have slowed down the growth. The GDP growth rate is above five percent and if one were to compare this with other nations, it speaks volume.

"We tend to compare with our own standard of eight to nine percent growth rate which was a record high by any standards as often tend to compare with our own standards. The GDP is inching up slowly with a slew of measures undertaken by the Government of India and the Indian economy is bound to become stronger," he said.

On US retail operations, he said in the US the bank does not have a full-range retail bank and it caters to the requirements of investors and NRIs.

Source: Economic Times