 |
 |
 |
| home | about us | articles | psu links | directory | publications | initiatives | feedback | contact us | | ||
| AXIS BANK | |||||||
| Stepping Up of Lending to Agriculture, Small Industry and Business | |||||||
| Interview with S.K. Mitra, President & Zonal Head, Eastern Zone, Kolkata | |||||||
We are keen to know the
rationale for your bank’s changing its name from UTI Bank to AXIS Bank.
This indeed was a major challenge for us
as the Bank had done well with the UTI brand name. However, today there
are several entities using the UTI brand that creates certain amount of
brand confusion. Hence it was felt worthwhile to invest in building a
brand name which would help the Bank create a distinct brand identity
for itself, reflecting the enhanced aspirations of the Bank as it gears
up to take off on a multinational stage. The choice of the name Axis
Bank is determined by the need to create a brand that has global
undertones transcending geographical boundaries, reflects a well
aligned, organized, tech-savvy entity and conveys an edge in terms of
dynamism, power and influence. In terms of customer relationship, the
core idea connoted by Axis is that the customer is the fulcrum around
which the Bank revolves, offering 360-degree service to cater to all
kinds of customer needs. The rest of the Bank remains the same, where
one can continue to experience the same dedicated personalised service
and professional expertise, as always.
Graphically, in the new logo, the first
stroke depicts forward growth while the second stroke signifies a solid
support system. The two thick strokes also connote solidity and
security.
How do you view the Indian banking sector’s significant progress since nationalization? After nationalisation of major banks in
India in 1969, there was a significant expansion of branch network to
unbanked areas and stepping up of lending to agriculture, small
industry and business. More recently, the focus is on establishing to
affordable basic banking services with emphasis on financial inclusion.
The period 1969 to 1991 saw a huge
increase in the branch outreach in India as the average population
covered by a bank branch fell from 64,000 to 13,711. In 1991 along with
reforms for liberalizing and opening up of the economy, financial
sector reform aimed at deregulation, increased competition and
revitalizing the banking sector through recapitalisation and adoption
of prudential measures.
The reform process brought in its wake a
set of new generation private sector banks. Ever since the banking
industry in India has literally been revolutionized. The new genre of
private sector banks have successfully engineered a competitive
environment in the whole banking industry. Today the nationalized banks
compete for business with the private banks as fiercely as the private
banks do with the foreign banks with a whole lot of resultant benefits
passing on to the customers. Another major development was that almost
all the major banks, including Government owned banks have been able to
reduce the level of NPAs very significantly. It is quite satisfying to
note that today the health of Banks in India is much superior to that
of China.
What is your assessment of the current situation in the banking industry in India? The banking industry in India appears to
be poised for another round of revolution. As the economy grows at a
steady pace of 9% plus, the banking industry also has to gear up to
support the massive growth being witnessed all across. The opportunity
is huge and Indian banking industry ought to leverage the same and
reach commanding heights in the process.
What are the key issues facing banking sector today? The key issues faced by the banking
sector in India are the following:
With about 60% of the population without
bank accounts, the banking industry faces both a huge challenge as well
as an opportunity. The industry can grow manifold by reaching out to
the rural masses.
The PSU banks, which own about three
fourth of the total assets of the banking industry face the daunting
tasks of raising capital without reducing Government’s stake. The
Government needs to quickly bring about a solution, either through
legislative changes or some innovative resource-raising programme.
With the opening up of the banking
sector in 2009, we are likely to see entry of foreign banks and also
strengthening of hold of the existing foreign banks, when the sector is
allowed to have more foreign shareholding. This may bring about major
changes, with far reaching impact. This is likely to result in some
‘shaking up’ in this sector resulting in ‘phasing out’ of the weaker
players. It will be something like Darwin’s ‘survival of the fittest’.
How do you look at the future of Indian banking sector? Indian Banking system has played a
crucial role in the socio-economic development of the country. The
system is expected to continue to be supportive and sensitive to the
growth and development needs of all the segments of the society.
Our banking system is transparent in its
dealings and has well adopted global best practices in accounting and
disclosures driven by the motto of value enhancement for all
stakeholders.
It is expected that the Indian banking
will be more competitive in times to come. For this the market players
will have to be financially stronger and operationally more efficient.
Capital is always a key factor in building a successful institution,
which will be engaging the attention of bank managements. The banking
and finance system will improve competitiveness through a process of
consolidation, through merger and acquisition and strategic alliances.
Technology would be key to
competitiveness of banking system. Indian players are expected to keep
pace with global leaders in the use of banking technology. In such a
scenario, on-line accessibility will be available to the customers from
any part of the globe through ‘Anywhere’ and ‘Anytime’ banking.
What would you advise your customer to be the best way to manage money? We would like to advise our customers to
take investment calls based on clear understanding of the risk return
matrix. They must have very clear investment objectives in mind, which
should define the investment horizon as well as take care of the short
term and long term cash flow requirements of the Customer with
appropriate risk appreciation.
Since investors do not get adequate time
to do this exercise themselves, we suggest that they should take the
help of Investment Advisors (IA) to draw up their investment plans and
make investments accordingly. We, in Axis Bank have trained IAs, based
at our Branches to assist the investors. We also have a Wealth
Management Team, which advises the high networth investors on the basis
of detailed research on the market trends, industry as well as company
wise analysis. Finally customers must always try to have a balanced
portfolio, comprising of various maturities and class of assets like,
real estate, equity, mutual fund, govt. bonds, bank deposits, gold and
other liquid investments.
What are you doing about ensuring top of the shelf service at AXIS Bank? At Axis Bank, we give the highest
importance to customer service. We believe effective customer service
not only helps deepening relationship and maintaining existing
customers, it also triggers fresh customer acquisition. We conduct
periodic review of customer services provided by branches by
independent external agencies. We keep improving our service standard
by taking cue from the results of customer service surveys. Most
importantly the performance of our staff at branches, including that of
the Branch Heads is judged by the level of customer service provided
amongst other parameters.
Apart from the human part of it, we also
endeavor to effect improvements in the systems, process and the
technological platform as also product innovation to offer better
customer service. Our customers are central to all our strategic
planning. Indeed, we look at ourselves as a ‘people’s bank’ with
solutions for a life-time as our motto.
What has been your experience on the lending side in this Region? Our loan portfolio has doubled itself
over the past two years. Our focus on
different segments likes retail assets,
SME & Agri and large corporate through separate business units has
resulted in healthy growth across all the segments. All the three
lending channels have developed sizable and quality portfolios with
attractive yields. One of our focus areas has been to increase non-fund
based exposures, which has helped us immensely in growing our fee
income level. The Credit Deposit Ratio (CD ratio) has moved up upto
46.27% in 2006-07 from a level of 39.15 in 2004-05. The Bank crossed
the milestone figure of Rs 1000 Crores in Priority Sector lending in
the region on 31st March 2007. We have set up a number of dedicated
Agricultural Clusters at places like, Midnapore, Arambagh, Siliguri,
Cuttack, Raipur etc with dedicated agricultural specialists to boost
our agri lending portfolio. We have also set up dedicated SME Cells at
Guwahati, Jamshedpur and Bhubaneswar apart from Kolkata to focus on SME
and Priority Sector lending.
How do you plan to increase your share of retail credit? The Bank has set up a series of Retail
Assets centers (RAC) throughout the country to focus on the retail
segment. In Eastern Zone, apart from Kolkata, we have RACs at
Bhubaneswar Jamshedpur, Durgapur, Guwahati, Raipur, Ranchi and
Cuttack. RACs provide one-stop solution to our retail clients.
The Bank has launched four-wheeler financing which has started
attracting large number of Clientele because of the competitiveness of
the product.
Please tell us about the expansion plans of the Bank specially in the semi urban and rural areas of the region. Our Branch network in the Eastern Zone
has trebled over a period of last three years. A large number of
Branches has been set up in Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand apart from the
North-east where we have the largest network among the new generation
Banks. We have plans to go to the Districts where we do not have
presence. Recently we have opened our branches at Purulia, Bankura,
Coochbehar, Raiganj, Malda, Balurghat, Gaya, Suri etc. in West Bengal
and other States. Our Bank recognizes the need to reach out to rural
and semi urban centre which are identified as future growth centres and
which would also help the Bank to reach out to the target segments in
the priority sector advances such as Agriculture, Small Business and
Small Scale enterprises. Eastern Zone has taken major initiative in
expanding branch network in the NorthEast and presently we have
presence in all the North-Eastern States, except Manipur With the
opening of our Imphal branch during the current fiscal, we would be
present in all the States in the Indian Union.
 |
|||||||
| All articles in this website are copyrighted and any infringement will be dealt with strict legal action. | ||
| RNI No.
WBENG/2008/27737 |
|
Copyright
@ Shilpa Bichitra | All Rights
Reserved | Designed by: DigiPalette
| |
Editor:
Gouri Shankar Das |