SBI aims to double YONO app users, plans significant investment: Chairman

Setty, the chairman of the country's biggest lender, had expressed confidence in achieving its 3% net interest margin guidance despite the RBI's 25 basis points repo rate cut in the December policy

State Bank of India Chairman C S Setty has said that the bank is targeting to double its YONO app user base to 20 crore over the next two years with the launch of a new version on Monday.

YONO 2.0 is a significant upgrade, offering a better experience for customers and a robust digital platform for the bank, and full fledged features will be rolled out over 6-8 months, he told PTI in an interview.

"From a bank perspective, YONO 2.0 is a key anchor of digitalization, with a common code for internet banking and mobile banking. This allows for seamless integration across channels, enabling SBI to launch new products and processes quickly. The bank aims to leverage YONO 2.0 to enhance its digital presence and customer engagement," he said.

For example, he said, YONO 2.0 developed a common core for customer journeys, which will ensure a seamless experience across internet banking, mobile banking, and branch channels for account opening or any other transaction.

"Today, we have almost 10 crore customer base there and our objective is to bring 20 crore customers to YONO mobile banking, or internet banking. Together, about 20 crore customer base is something that we are building for which means that you have to invest in your infrastructure in a significant manner...so our idea is that in the next two years, we should have at least 20 crore customer base," he said.

Setty, the chairman of the country's biggest lender, had expressed confidence in achieving its 3 per cent net interest margin guidance despite the RBI's 25 basis points repo rate cut in the December policy.

On December 5, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) lowered the repurchase, or repo rate, by 25 basis points to 5.25 per cent and retained a neutral stance, which gave room for further rate cuts.

The rate cut came after a gap of six months with a view to further bolster growth, which hit six-quarter high of 8.2 per cent in Q2 of FY26.

Following the rate cut, SBI too lowered its lending rate linked to the repo rate by 25 basis points to 7.90 per cent effective December 15.

The bank has also slashed the Marginal Cost of Funds-Based Lending Rate (MCLR ) across all tenures by 5 basis points.

The SBI chairman also said the bank may not need equity capital to drive credit growth and maintain a capital adequacy ratio of 15 per cent over 5-6 years.

Setty further said the momentum in the RAM segment will drive 14 per cent overall credit growth during the current fiscal year.

The Retail, Agriculture and MSME (RAM) segment, which is 67 per cent of the total loan portfolio, also crossed the Rs 25 lakh crore milestone in September.

With the improvement in economic growth, SBI upped its credit growth target from earlier 12 per cent to 14 per cent for the ongoing financial year.

Besides, he said, the bank is witnessing good growth in gold loans while express credit, which is an unsecured personal loan, will have double-digit growth.