“Small is always beautiful,” said A K Jagannathan, who recently took charge of Tuticorin-based Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) bank. But that doesn’t mean the new managing director and chief executive doesn’t have big plans for the 89-year-old Nadar community lender. Jagannathan plans to almost double the bank’s Rs 26,000-crore business to Rs 50,000 crore in two years. “Given our strong balance sheet and community affiliation, we want to expand into overseas markets, where there is a large ethnic population. We are looking at Colombo first,” he said.
Prior to joining TMB, Jagannathan was managing director of State Bank of Travancore and has 35 years’ experience in banking. He started his career as probationary officer in State Bank of Mysore in 1974 and was deputed to subsidiaries of State Bank of India. TMB currently gets over 60 per cent of its business and 90 per cent of its work force from the Nadar community, which has ferociously guarded the bank’s ownership. Asked whether the ‘Nadar-controlled’ tag would be a hindrance to growth, Jagannathan is diplomatic: “We have to respect the sentiments of the community.”
The new TMB chief is also caught in the middle of an ownership battle between Sivanthi Adityan and brother Ramachandra. But that hasn’t hurt shareholders too badly. Following generous dividends of Rs 600 a share last financial year and Rs 500 the year before, Jagannathan says, “We are planning a record divided of Rs 1,000 per share for 2009-2010.” Now that’s no small feat!
