Federal Bank looks at 20% business growth in 2019-20

Private sector Federal Bank is looking at a 20 per cent growth in business in the current fiscal, an official said on Wednesday.

"We are pursuing a 20 per cent year-on-year growth in business, including deposits and credit, in 2019-20," Federal Bank MD and CEO Shyam Srinivasan said.

The lender had posted a net profit of Rs 1,243.89 crore in the last financial year while its gross non-performing assets (NPAs or bad loans) as a percentage of total loans stood at 2.92 per cent and net NPAs were at 1.48 per cent by the end of 2018-19, he told reporters here after the shifting of the bank's Kolkata Zonal Office to a new location in the Park Street area.

"The bank's focus is across all the portfolios - corporate, retail and commercial. As we look at the March 2019 book, our wholesale banking, which is all credit above Rs 5 crore, is 53 per cent and all below that is 47 per cent.

"Directionally, we want to get it 50-50 over the next two years," he added.

According to the CEO, the lender is "positive about its growth" in several segments like sea food, textiles and others within the manufacturing sector.

The Kerala-headquartered lender has about 76 per cent of its credit book outside the southern state, the said.

The lender has over one per cent share in India's banking market, including deposits and credit, he said, adding that the lender has the potential to grow with low market share and can grow its share to 2 per cent "very fast" as the overall market is "fragmented".

The bank has 1,250 branches across India, of which 590 are in Kerala, and has its representative Offices at Abu Dhabi and Dubai.

The bank has an IFSC Banking Unit in the Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City) besides licences for representative offices in a few more Middle East countries, he said.

"All our branches are profitable and we have not added any new physical branch in the last four and a half years. In the current fiscal and in the next financial year, we are looking at adding new branches in select geographies...say about 40 branches a year," he added.

--IANS

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