Singapore’s DBS Bank, one of few foreign lenders to have applied for local incorporation, has said it will open 60 to 75 branches in India over the next four to five years.
Piyush Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, DBS Group, said the bank had applied to the Reserve Bank of India to convert its branches into wholly-owned subsidiaries about a year back, the approval for which is awaited. DBS has 12 branches in the country.
Banks could take about 12 months after RBI approval to start operating as a subsidiary.
Speaking on the sidelines of a digital initiative that the bank launched on Tuesday, Mr Gupta said loans to small and medium enterprises had been a focus area for the lender in other geographies, and the strategy would be continued in India.
Once it converts into the wholly-owned subsidiary, it will focus on corporate, SME and wealth management services through the branches.
‘Mobile only’ bank
On the retail side, the bank is focussing on liabilities and has unveiled a ‘mobile only’ bank, which a customer can operate completely digitally — ‘a paperless, signature-less and branchless bank’, the bank said.
Accounts will also be opened in a paperless manner since customer authentication will be done using the Aadhaar card.
Over the next 12 months, the bank will start extending retail loans, said Surojit Shome, DBS’s CEO for India.
The bank is targeting 5 million bank accounts over the next five years from its current 40,000.
