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Bengaluru, Feb 21
Bangalore-based Ujjivan Small Finance Bank will add new products to its existing offerings, including gold loan financing, at 24 branches beginning in April FY24, Ittira Davis, MD and CEO of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, told businessline.
“Currently, we are testing it in our 24 branches in south India and targeting our existing customers. We plan to add another 36 branches in FY24,” said Davis. Currently, Ujjivan has 73 lakh customers, and going forward, the company expects customer growth to be in the range of 10–12 per cent.
In addition to gold loan financing, the bank is also planning to expand its vehicle financing segment. He said that currently, they are focused on two-wheelers, in a small way. “We are putting a new loan origination system to expand vehicle finance as that is our focus in the micro banking segment.”
Similarly, Davis also noted that EV is a growing segment in the two-wheeler and three-wheeler segments: “We are in the process of evaluating the EV financing proposition, and are keen to add EV financing to our portfolio shortly.”
Micro banking
The bank said that its secured businesses are affordable housing and micro- and small enterprises, which it intends to grow in the coming financial year. Micro banking accounts for 70 per cent of its current business, with affordable housing accounting for 15 per cent and micro- and small businesses accounting for 10 per cent.
Q3 revenues, profit
The bank posted a strong quarterly performance and expects to continue the growth momentum.
“The third quarter has been one of our best, with disbursements of ₹4,838 crore. Overall, the business sentiment is good. There is a good credit demand, and more importantly, we see a lot of loan recoveries, which contributed significantly to the bottomline,” according to the CEO.
In the third quarter of FY23, the bank reported revenues of ₹1,081.62 crore and net profit of ₹293.19 crore.
As to increasing its footprint, Ujjivan plans to enter Andhra Pradesh in the next financial year. It has 607 branches across 25 States. He also stated that they would keep combining physical and online expansion.
“By the end of the current fiscal year, we intend to open 625 branches and another 50 to 70 by the end of the next year.”
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