As high bad loans force many private sector lenders to turn cautious
on corporate loans and focus on the retail sector, YES Bank said it is
interested in all areas of business as its non-performing assets are
well under control.
"We don’t have scary non-performing assets
(NPAs) like other banks; the capex cycle is starting and credit growth
is inching up. We will participate in that. We have the maturity in the
business and lower NPAs; we have the capital and can also raise capital
if required. So, growth is a given," said Pralay Mondal, Senior Group
President, Retail and Business Banking, YES Bank.
Both gross and
net NPAs, as a percentage of gross advances, improved for the bank in
the quarter ended March 31, 2018, to 1.28 per cent and 0.64 per cent,
respectively.
Mondal attributed the improvement in NPAs to
resolutions that have taken place, and said that the general collateral
of the bank is also better.
Growth engines
"All
three engines of the bank - wholesale, small and medium enterprises, and
retail - are doing well for different reasons," he told BusinessLine.
Mondal
said the SME sector is also seeing a revival after demonetisation and
the roll-out of GST. "SMEs are also doing well for us. In the first half
of last year, the overall systemic growth in SMEs was little slow. But
now I see a clearly stronger pick-up and we are leveraging that," he
said.
Outlining plans for 2018-19, Mondal said the lender will
continue its focus on retail lending through branches as well as digital
initiatives.
"We will focus both on branch and digital expansion.
I don’t come from the school of thought where you don’t need branches.
You need branches. The question is how to create the complimentary
digital channels." He noted that HNIs, who often provide a significant
chunk of retail revenue, still require branches to meet relationship
managers or use lockers.
Apart from the focus on digital payments
through tie-ups with Samsung Pay and Bharat QR, the bank is also
creating efficiencies internally for digitisation.
"But at the end
of the day, you can’t force the customers to adopt digital initiatives.
Water will find its own level," he said, noting that people were forced
to adopt digital payments during demonetisation due to insufficient
cash.
To add branches
The lender currently has 1,100 branches, and it could look at adding about 100 branches more.
It
is also hoping to see a significant increase in its credit card
business. "For credit cards, less than 100 per cent growth will not be
acceptable. We grew retail assets by 100 per cent last year. So, I will
be disappointed if we grow less than 50 per cent," he noted.