Even as optimism seems to have returned to the economy, the investment climate appears to be hazy for financial institutions. Tamil Nadu-based private sector lender Karur Vysya Bank on Friday maintained that it has put aggressive expansion on hold until the investment climate improves.
“Economy pick-up has not happened as yet. Positive sentiment is there, but the investment climate has to improve for both the public and private sectors.
“We are sure that it will improve but till than we have to wait,” said K Venkataraman, MD and CEO, Karur Vysya Bank, at the 98th Founders’ Day celebrations of the bank here on Friday.
The bank has put its aggressive expansion on hold, Venkataraman said.
“We are waiting for our new branches to break-even first. Going forward, we plan to have about 35-40 branches under each of our 16 divisional offices across the country,” he said.
Organic route preferred Venkataraman further maintained that the bank was not interested in inorganic growth, but was more keen on the organic route for growth.
A top official of the bank maintained that it was not considering any acquisition to expand its business. Predominantly positioned in the Southern Indian market, the bank has 612 branches along with a network of 1,648 ATMs and 300 plus cash deposit machines. In Gujarat, the bank has 15 branches with total advances of ₹1,300 crore and ₹1,250 crore of deposits.
Nationally, the bank has total business of ₹80,862 crore with total deposits of ₹45,116 crore and advances of ₹35,746 crore.