Ujjivan Small Finance Bank has submitted the names of two candidates to the Reserve Bank of India for the post of Managing Director and CEO. It also expects the amalgamation with Ujjivan Financial Services to be completed in the next 12 months.

Exuding confidence that the worst is over for the lender, Carol Furtado, Chief Operating Officer, Ujjivan SFB said the bank will focus on four key areas.

“We will be focusing on improving our portfolio quality and rebuilding our business volumes. We still want to work a lot more on retaining our talent. And digital will also be a focus area,” she told BusinessLine in an interaction.

Problems aplenty

The lender has seen a lot of attrition, including the exit of its MD and CEO Nitin Chugh earlier this year, and has been facing problems of mounting bad loans.

It reported a net loss of ₹273.79 crore for the second quarter of the fiscal due to higher provisions and lower income. Gross non-performing assets surged to ₹1,712.65 crore or 11.8 per cent of gross advances as on September 30, 2021.

“We have submitted two names as per the RBI requirement within the given timeline. We are expecting a revert from their side,” Furtado said, adding that the bank has also shortlisted people for multiple positions who are expected to join shortly.

“We have a very strong internal leadership team in place who are very well capable of taking the strategy of the bank,” she further said.

Ujjivan SFB is also expecting a much better second half of the fiscal year. “The economy is turning positive and the business seems to be getting better. We have been able to strengthen our collections, we have made adequate provision and our GNPAs have also peaked,” she said.

Disbursements in the third quarter have improved and credit demand has increased.

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