Bank of Baroda plans to double its total business to ₹48-lakh crore in 5 years

Bank of Baroda (BoB) is planning to add more heft to its balance sheet. India’s second largest public sector bank (PSB) is laying the groundwork to double its total business (deposits plus advances) to ₹48 lakh crore in five years.

BoB’s total business stood at ₹24,17,464 crore as at March-end 2024. SBI, which is also a PSB (with Government being the majority owner), is the largest bank in the country with total business of ₹86,83,612 crore.

Punjab National Bank and Canara Bank are the third and fourth largest PSBs, with total business of ₹23,53,038 crore and ₹22,72,968 crore, respectively.

• Also read: BoB reports muted growth in Q4 profit at ₹4,886 crore

“We have adopted a five-year business plan. It is a rolling plan, whereby we are thinking of doubling our business in five years. Depending on the economic outlook, it (the total business) could go higher or lower. But at least we have a target set to get the ball rolling in that direction,” Debadatta Chand, MD & CEO, told businessline, in an interaction.

Chand observed that on a normalised basis, BoB is looking at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of about 13.5 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y). He emphasised that the bank will not sacrifice margins for the sake of growth.

“If we achieve this (CAGR), we may get to the kind of business level we are looking at. This will allow us to double our balance sheet,” he said.

BoB’s global deposits grew 10.2 per cent y-o-y to ₹13,26,958 crore as at March-end 2024. Global advances grew 12.5 per cent to ₹10,90,506 crore.

• Also read: RBI allows Bank of Baroda to resume onboarding via ‘Bob World’ mobile app

Chand noted that the bank is considering branch expansion, with plans to add almost 650 branches in a couple of years. BoB had 8,243 branches as at March-end 2024.

Along with this, the bank also plans to augment its manpower. It is re-assessing its manpower requirement as part of the five-year business plan.

“We are also looking at productivity improvements, which can be a benchmark for the industry,” he said.

At the recent fourth quarter results press meet, Chand said the bank plans to revive its wholly-owned IT subsidiary — Barodasun Technologies Ltd — and also work on talent management and capacity creation.

The IT subsidiary, which was floated in 2017, has been envisioned to implement enterprise-wide IT projects and development of financial products and solutions across different business verticals of the bank.

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