Federal Bank has identified five states outside Kerala where it plans to increase its market share.
“We have national aspirations. Since five years we are trying to grow in states outside Kerala,” Ganesh Sankaran executive director Federal Bank said. “We have identified five states — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Punjab and Karnataka to increase our market share.”
Five years ago, the bank did not have many branches outside Kerala. However now, of its 1,252 branches, 55 per cent were outside Kerala according to Mr. Sankaran.
He said that the bank was keen to increase its ‘per branch’ business outside Kerala, the executive director said.
The bank was also keen to buy more loan portfolios from NBFCs. In the first quarter it bought around Rs.1,500 crore of mortgages from NBFCs.
“We are looking for more such deals.. it is an opportunity for me and I am pursing these on commercial terms after putting it through credit filters,” he said. The bank feels that such deals also open up opportunities for increased customer engagements. It presently has 70 lakh customers.
He said that of the bank’s Rs.1.5 lakh crores business (on September 30, 2016), 20 per cent belonged to its retail portfolio, 40 per cent in wholesale banking and rest in mid-market SMEs.
Mr. Sankaran said that the bank had lowered its slippages sequentially but it was not present in the core sector ( as in steel, power, roads). “We try to operate in ticket -sizes which we can handle and as of now have no intention to get into these sectors,” he said.
It is present in automobiles, FMCG, pharmaceuticals and manufacturing industries he said.
