Bandhan Bank to increase exposure to secured loans, says MD & CEO

Private lender Bandhan Bank will gradually increase its exposure to secured loans by enhancing advances to the housing and MSME sectors, an official said.

Presently, the bank's exposure to MFI loans, which are unsecured, is 47 per cent, and the share of its advances to the housing segment is at 24 per cent, retail at two per cent and the micro, small and medium enterprises sector at 27 per cent.

Bandhan Bank MD and CEO Chandra Shekhar Ghosh told PTI that "the lender will increase its exposure to secured loans and has set a target to increase disbursements to housing and medium-size MSME loans. Advances to MFIs and small-ticket MSME loans are unsecured".

He said that 25 per cent of its MFI loans will be converted to formal MSME advances as the interest rates in the segment are similar to micro-credit or the loans given to self-help groups (SHGs).

There will be "no impact on the profitability" of the bank as there is no difference in the interest rates, he said.

In the last quarter of the previous fiscal, the bank clocked a net profit of Rs 1,902 crore and there had been no provisioning for bad loans, he said.

By 2025, the bank will convert "26 per cent of group loans to joint liability group (JLG) advances, which are micro-credit given to batch of small borrowers".

Responding to a query on the expansion of branches in the current fiscal, Ghosh said around 530 banking outlets will be opened across the country, taking the total number to more than 6,000.

Recently, the private lender's holding company Bandhan Financial Holdings Ltd diluted 21 per cent of its stake in the banking entity to raise Rs 10,600 crore, out of which Rs 4,500 crore had been utilised to acquire a majority shareholding in IDFC Mutual Fund.

Presently, the shareholding of the holding company has decreased to 40 per cent, which is in "conformity" to the regulatory norms, Ghosh said.

Earlier, Bandhan Financial Holdings' stake was 82 per cent at the time of the listing of the bank on the stock exchanges, which subsequently decreased to 61 per cent with the acquisition of Gruh Finance.

Ghosh said there is no need for a follow-on public offer as the bank is adequately capitalised.