IDBI Bank aims to climb up to the No. 5 slot in terms of business from the No. 7 position it holds among banks now, said its the Executive Director, Mr K.C. Jani.
The bank, which has forayed into insurance and mutual funds businesses, has no plans to dilute its stake to bring in any foreign partner, he said.
Speaking to newsmen in Coimbatore on the sidelines of the ‘money tree finExpo' that he inaugurated, Mr Jani said IDBI Bank had closed the last financial year with a business of Rs 3.91 lakh crore and made a net profit of more than Rs 2,000 crore. The bank had, within eight years of its launch in 2004, climbed up to the No 7 spot.
He said the aim is to achieve the fifth rank within the next two to three years. During this year, the bank's aim is to cross Rs 3,000 crore in profit.
Mr Jani said that the domestic banking sector is growing at 18-20 per cent annually on an average.
To achieve its goal of reaching the fifth position, “we have to grow slightly faster than that”, and IDBI Bank plans to grow by 20-22 per cent to reach its target. With about 1,000 branches and 15,000 employees, the bank has the lowest average employees' age of 33 among the banks in India. Its per capita profitability (profitability per employee) was the best in the industry.
He said the bank has planned to open around 150 branches during this year. On the impression that interest rate cut by banks was not commensurate with the repo rate cut by RBI, Mr Jani said that banks were trustees of the funds of the public.
As RBI was reducing rates step by step, the banks too were adopting a step by step approach. Going forward, banks would do what the RBI desired them to do.
He said that IDBI Bank's net interest margin was around two per cent as it paid higher interest on deposits while charging lesser interest on lending since it kept the customers' interest paramount.
Asked whether the bank planned to off load part-stake in ventures such as mutual fund and insurance to bring in overseas partners to monetise its investment, Mr Jani said, “we don't have any plans but going forward in future, nobody can say”.