Indian Bank eyes recovery of Rs 7,000 cr this financial year: MD & CEO

Public sector Indian Bank has targeted to recover about Rs 7,000 crore during the current financial year, a top official said on Tuesday.

The bank has also received the approval from the Reserve Bank of India and shareholders to raise Rs 5,000 crore which would be decided at an opportune time, the bank's Managing Director and CEO Shanti Lal Jain said here.

The city-headquartered Indian Bank has reported a 41 per cent jump in its net profit to Rs 2,403 crore for the April-June 2024 quarter due to a decline in bad loans. It had earned a net profit of Rs 1,709 crore in the corresponding quarter of last year.

"Last time, we recovered about Rs 8,700-Rs 8,800 crore. But what happens is slowly, this number may come down and this time we have planned that we will be making a recovery of around Rs 7,000 crore," Jain told reporters.

Elaborating, he said recovery of Rs 7,000 crore for a financial year comes to Rs 1,750 per quarter and the bank in April-June 2024 quarter recovered Rs 1,937 crore. He said the recovery would be more than the slippages during the current financial year.

According to bank officials, the slippage ratio contained to 1.50 per cent in June 2024 as compared to 1.57 per cent in June 2023.

On fund raising, Jain said the bank's capital adequacy is 16.47 per cent and with the net profit of Rs 2,403 crore for the April-June 2024 quarter has been added, the capital adequacy ratio is 17.08 per cent.

"Point is, the bank is adequately capitalised. Basically, the bank is able to take care of capital needs. We have Board of Directors approval, Shareholders approval to raise Rs 5,000 crore through equity and Rs 2,000 crore through Tier II Bonds and Rs 5,000 crore of infra bonds during this financial year." he said.

"That approval is with us and at the opportune time within the financial year we will take a call on this," he said.

To a query on how much the bank was looking to recover through ARC, he said last year the bank made about Rs 464 crore and this financial year also it would be around Rs 400 crore of recovery.

To another query, he said the bank opened about 77 branches last year and this year they have planned to open 100 branches.

Jain said the bank was focused on delivering value-added and suitable solutions with the smart use of technology to customers "Through a combination of cutting-edge technology and personalised service, we aim to simplify banking, making it more accessible, convenient and secure" he said.

He said the bank has launched its omni-channel banking application INDSMART -- which offers a wide range of services including banking services and e-shopping facilities to customers.

This application has several features like integrated bill payment, e-shopping, business planner providing a seamless and enriched experience for customers, he said. Customers would also be able to avail loan facilities or open fixed deposits and savings accounts through the application, he said.

Indian Bank made a business of Rs 36,678 crore through digital channels in April-June 2024 quarter. Mobile banking users grew by 33 per cent year over year reaching 1.75 crore customers.

UPI users (1.85 crore) and net banking users (1.09 crore) have grown by 30 per cent and 26 per cent, year-on-year, respectively, he said.