"We have sought approvals from the Reserve Bank of India for the new branches," Indian Bank Chairman and Managing Director MS Sundara Rajan told reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by Skoch.
Rajan said the bank was looking at retail lending and extending fresh loans to farmers who will benefit from the Rs 71,000 crore debt waiver scheme. In addition, he said that micro finance offered a good business prospect as it was ignored by many banks and there were low level of defaults last year.
The bank's other focus area was low-cost deposits. Rajan expressed his optimism that the bank's current and savings account (CASA) deposits will grow at 35 per cent of its deposit base by the end of this financial year. The share of CASA deposits in the bank's overall portfolio is currently estimated at 33.07 per cent.
