Post-IPO, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank to up focus on RAM, go on phygital mode

Tamilnad Mercantile Bank (TMB) made a muted market debut on Thursday, with the stock listing at its issue price of Rs 510. It corrected and ended the session at Rs 508.45, a decline of 0.3 per cent, and as its leader spoke about the lender’s plans.

TMB will continue its focus on the retail, agriculture and MSME (RAM) portfolio as it offers services in the physical and digital (phygital mode), said its new managing director and chief executive officer, Krishnan Sankarasubramaniam.

RAM accounts for around 88 per cent of TMB’s loan portfolio now. Sankarasubramaniam—referred for brevity as S Krishnan—said the Tuticorin-based bank mobilised around Rs 850 crore through the IPO. “Our immediate focus will be on the RAM segment. We will also be looking at making this bank phygital-hybrid model of existing banking relations and digital,” he said. The bank will focus on home and vehicle loans in the retail segment.

The bank is expected to come out with a strategy paper for network expansion soon. Out of the 509 branches (106 rural, 247 semi-urban, 80 urban and 76 in metropolitan), only nine branches are loss-making for TMB.

TMB’s IPO was subscribed 2.86 times on the last day of subscription. While retail investors saw 6.48 times subscription, the category for non-institutional investors was subscribed 2.94 times and that of qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) by 1.62 times. “It (listing) is good considering the current market conditions. I expect it to further pick up in the coming days,” Krishnan said.

“We have reached pre-Covid level of our business,” he said. He said that the bank will be selective on its corporate accounts. “Focussing on RAM does not mean that it is shutters on the corporate segment. We will be selective regarding corporate.”

Post listing, the bank has a market capitalisation of Rs 8,051 crore. TMB is one of the oldest private banks in India and it offers a range of banking and financial services.

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(With inputs from Sundar Sethuraman in Thiruvananthapuram)