Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) has identified 250 branches that will focus on the Micro, Small and Medium-scale Enterprises (MSMEs).
Karnam Sekar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the bank, told presspersons here on Friday IOB would be an MSME focused bank in a couple of years.
Total advances
Its total advances to the MSME sector stood at ₹31,000 crore.
“Our immediate goal is to take it to ₹50,000 crore.” The period to achieve this would be decided.
The bank was conducting outreach programmes for MSMEs and had organised meetings in Pune, Hyderabad, Tiruchi, and Coimbatore so far.
“We will go to more clusters,” he said. The inputs from these meetings would be discussed and from April 1 steps would be taken towards larger focus on the MSMEs.
The bank had trained 700 of its staff since October and they were posted in the “MSME intensive” branches. They would be able to understand the requirements of the sector. The untapped potential was high in this sector.
The Reserve Bank of India had announced an one-time loan restructuring scheme for the MSMEs and ₹3000 crore to ₹4000 crore had been restructured so far.
By the end of this month, more accounts that were in need of restructuring would also be covered. “Restructuring is a win-win proposal for the bank and the client,” he said.
Recovery measures
IOB’s major NPAs were in the Corporate sector. The bank had taken several measures for recovery.
These include one-time settlement schemes and recovering through securities. As the realisations from recovery increased, the bank was confident of making profits from the current quarter.
“We have a focused approach to ensure recovery,” Mr. Sekar said.
