Punjab & Sind Bank (PSB), a public sector bank, plans to set up 40 new branches this fiscal, MD & CEO Swarup Kumar Saha has said.
This proposed branch network expansion will be across India and will help the bank enhance its Current Account Savings Account (CASA) resources, Saha noted.
Currently, PSB has 1,553 branches across the country.
Low CASA base
Saha said that PSB would like to record 1 per cent point increase in CASA from 33.59 per cent as of now.
“For a bank of our size, our basic challenge is of low CASA base. We need to augment that through a strategic thought process”, he said.
Net interest margin
Asked about net interest margin (NIM), he said that the bank would look to record at least 2.95 per cent NIM. In 2022-23, the NIM was 2.91 per cent, which was 11 basis points higher than last year. “ We lost a bit of NIM in fourth quarter. Keeping the strategies that we have formulated, we are hopeful of recording NIM of 2.95 per cent this fiscal”, he said.
To reach the level of NIMs of private sector banks, PSB has to work on multiple fronts including technology, reduce operating cost etc, Saha added.
PSB is aiming for credit growth of 13 per cent this fiscal. It is also looking to further push the share of its retail, agricultural and MSME (RAM) segment to 55 per cent in its overall loan book.