Tamilnad Mercantile Bank, which was started as a community development bank in 1921, has come a long way, extending its reach across the length and breadth of the country.

This old private bank went beyond the shores of mainland India by opening a branch at Port Blair last year. It has a network of over 362 branches and 600+ ATMs as on date.

The bank's net profit at the end of the 2012-13 financial year was ₹440 crore. Its total business grew by 18 per cent to ₹36,480 crore.

TMB’s Chief Executive KB Nagendra Murthy says his vision is to make it a happy place to work in, good place to bank on, and a responsive and responsible bank. Excerpts:

How much of your vision have you been able to translate into action and achieve results?

As far as making the bank a happy place to work in, we embarked on a massive ‘skill building exercise’ to motivate and instil confidence in the workforce. The results are visible and I am sure that they will be much more pronounced in the days to come.

In making TMB a good place to bank on, we have launched a series of initiatives to make all our touch points – be it the physical infrastructure, the name boards, telephone, website etc more welcoming and customer-friendly. Our feedback shows that the customer today feels that he/she is talking to a knowledgeable banker at the branches.

Insofar as being a responsive bank, we take customer feedback very seriously right up to the board level. The focus is not on what we are good at, but on areas we need to improve. We analyse the feedback and implement them within the framework of extant guidelines. This is one agenda that gets maximum attention at the board level.

As far as being a responsible bank, we as a policy do not indulge in adventurist banking. We do not want to undertake any transaction which my manager is not able to understand nor sell any product which our customers do not understand. I am more comfortable growing in geographical and product areas where the bank is strong. We will have to venture into newer geographies and product areas ultimately, but we intend to do it in a calibrated manner. The bank prefers to be fast but certainly not rash in whatever we do.

What in your perception are the strengths and weaknesses of TMB?

TMBians have built a formidable brand and ensured strong customer 'stickiness'. Be it in Guntur, Kolkata, Ichalkaranji or Surat, my top ten customers are from outside the State. The work culture of the staff is our formidable strength.

As far as weakness is concerned, we are aware that we need to do a lot of work on the technology front, and this challenge is receiving our focussed attention.

We will continue to focus on retail business. We firmly believe that opportunities for a bank such as ours are huge in rural and semi-urban centres. The gestation period could be slightly longer, but we will have the first mover advantage. Further, customer stickiness is our strength and we firmly believe that this would be a gain as well.

How do you plan to strengthen recoveries?

With the economy in downturn, it is inevitable that there will be stress on the asset quality. And, we are feeling the heat this fiscal. We do not believe in dropping a borrower in genuine difficulties like a hot potato. We do not believe in selling good machines as scrap. I am aware that a lot of mindset change is required for this, not just by bankers but the market and regulator as well. The focus as far as NPAs are concerned must shift from recovery to rehabilitation and monitoring at all levels to ensure that no productive asset is made to become a scrap.

How difficult or easy has it been for a bank like TMB to attract talent pool?

TMB is one of the best paymasters. We value human capital more than anything else. Having said that, I must confess that the young generation’s expectations are a challenge to us. We are continuously taking initiatives to make them feel comfortable.

With almost all banks going for large scale recruitment, certain amount of attrition cannot be ruled out in this industry. We have no complaints though. There is no formidable difficulty in attracting talent pool.

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