Bank of India to shift focus to retail and SME sectors

Bank of India today said it plans to shift its focus from large and mid-corporates to retail as well as small and medium enterprises (SME) sector.

"At present, we have 16% business from mid-corporates and 48% from large corporates. We want to consciously reduce it. We feel that together it should be 50%. We want to achieve this over a period," Bank of India (BoI) Executive Director M S Raghavan told reporters here.

Presently, the large and mid-corporate business constitutes 64% of the bank's overall portfolio and the same will be reduced to 50% over a period, he said.

He said the bank has realised that it is losing important segments such as retail and SME which are considered drivers of future growth.

He said the mood is sluggish and demand for credit growth is yet to pick up. "Credit offtake is very sluggish. If credit offtake picks up there will be strain in liquidity," he said replying to a query.

BoI aims at 18-20% growth in credit offtake in this current financial year, he said.

He also said the bank plans to open 250 branches and 2,000 ATMs this year.