Bank of Maharashtra eyes 66% jump in retail lending

State-run lender Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) today said it is aiming to increase its retail loan book to a quarter of its total assets from the present 15% in the current fiscal.

"We will increase the retail loan book to 25% from the current 15%. We have already opened 34 dedicated retail lending hubs to achieve the target," AS Bhattacharya, the Pune-based bank's chairman and managing director, told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

All segments like home, vehicle and personal loans will drive the retail loan growth, he added.

Retail lending typically gives a bank wider margins compared to the corporate loans and project finance where the margins narrow due to higher loan amounts.

The bank is looking at an overall credit growth of 25% this fiscal and a deposit growth of around 22%, Bhattacharya said.

The chairman ruled out any fund raising plans in FY12, saying the bank was well capitalised.

On the back of the rising interest rates, the bank is expecting its net interest margin to narrow down to around 3% by March, 2012 from the 3.13% last quarter.

It expects an improvement in the asset quality and is targeting to bring down the net non-performing assets (NPAs) to 1.25% from the 1.32% in the March quarter of last fiscal, he said.

Noting that a majority 64% of the Rs 1,100 crore of NPA emanate from loans under Rs 10 lakh, the lender has opened 15 micro loan recovery cells and plans to add five more during the current fiscal.