Visa CEO: Covid caused permanent shift to digital payments

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Al Kelly believes there has been a permanent shift in how consumers worldwide pay for goods and services. His 91-year-old parents are a prime example.

The CEO of payments processing giant Visa recently visited his mother just after she’d finished buying her groceries online — something she’d never done prior to Covid-19. “She said to me I cannot believe I wasn’t doing this before the pandemic,’” Kelly said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Kelly is more than five years into his tenure as the head of one of the world’s largest payments companies and arguably, one of the world’s best-known brands. Since he took over, the company’s stock has tripled in value as more of us pay with Visa’s credit and debit cards — a trend bolstered by the pandemic, as once cash-only establishments started accepting plastic and shoppers did more transactions online.

But while the shift to online shopping is helping Visa’s bottom line, the company is facing new forms of competition, particularly from Silicon Valley, who have debuted alternative forms of payment that go around the traditional Visa and Mastercard networks.

Also read: Cryptos, far from the regulators’ glare

The company has also gotten pushback from Washington, where skeptical policymakers have questioned Visa’s dominance of the payments industry. Visa abandoned its intent to purchase Plaid, a company that helps merchants and banks better accept online payments, after the Justice Department sued to stop the merger, citing antitrust concerns.

Pandemic push

Visa does not issue credit or debit cards. It’s a payment processor, providing the network between the bank that issues that card and the merchant accepting that card as payment. In exchange, Visa charges a fee from every transaction that runs on its network, which translates into billions of dollars in profit and revenue each year.

During the pandemic, more consumers became comfortable purchasing routine items online or with their smart phones to avoid risky in-person interactions. This was particularly seen in parts of the economy that have traditionally been cash-heavy such as grocery stores, coffee shops and bars.

Kelly pointed to the growth in debit card usage in the pandemic as an example. Debit cards are typically thought of as equivalent to cash in the payments industry — they can be used to buy items, but also to withdraw cash at an ATM.

In the past year, debit card purchasing volumes on Visa’s network rose 23 per cent from a year ago, while cash withdrawals were only up 4 per cent. “People are choosing not to get cash to shop but actually using their debit cards to shop now,” he said.

Also read: Digital payments remain strong, marginal decline in November

Any shift away from cash and digital payments will ultimately be good for Visa’s bottom line. Even a shift of 1 per cent or 2 per cent of consumers’ payments away from cash and onto credit and debit cards could result in tens of billions of dollars of additional transactions crossing over Visa’s network.

To talk about the size and scope of Visa often requires dealing in numbers that are usually reserved for describing the federal government. Visa processed $10.4 trillion in payments on its network in the fiscal year ended in September.

That’s up roughly 16 per cent from fiscal 2019, before the pandemic disrupted global trade and travel. The only payment processor larger than Visa is China’s UnionPay, which benefits as a payment monopoly bolstered by the large Chinese population and the world’s second-largest economy.

Competition

For decades, Visa and its primary competitor Mastercard have held the dominant market position in how people pay for goods and services, with American Express a distant third. But that duopoly is being challenged by the likes of Venmo, Affirm, PayPal and other fintech companies now providing payments services to both customers and merchants. Apple operates its own payment system.

And cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, etherium and others still hold the promise of being alternative forms of payment outside the traditional banking system. In short, how one pays for goods and services is not as simple as “cash or credit” — with the credit choices being Visa, Mastercard or American Express — as it was five years ago.

Kelly sees Visa’s ubiquity as one of its strongest selling points as more competition arises. True to its old advertising slogan, “it’s everywhere you want to be,” Visa has had years to build out the infrastructure and merchant network to accept its cards. “There will always be new forms to pay, but they will still need an infrastructure that creates utility and security that they need,” he said.

Also read: WhatsApp gets NPCI nod for doubling payments user base

But the increased competitive space for payments has made some merchants start questioning whether Visa’s armour may be weakened. Merchants have long been upset with the fees they pay to the processors to accept credit cards — which typically range from 1 per cent to 3 per cent. It’s often a retailer’s largest expense after payroll and the cost of buying goods. Merchants have previously used their collective power in Washington to cap fees on certain types of transactions, particularly debit cards.

Amazon has said it will stop accepting Visa credit cards issued in the United Kingdom early next year, saying Visa’s fees are too high compared to Mastercard and other payment processors. Visa has pushed back. Visa and Amazon have a co-branded credit card together that is up for renewal soon, and Amazon may be looking for leverage.

“Consumers should be able to use their Visa cards wherever they choose,” Kelly said. ”When a merchant restricts choice, no one wins. In this case, the merchant is not respecting the choice of the consumer.”

Industry analysts and investors have taken the Amazon spat as a sign that Visa may face increased competition in coming years or may face future conflicts with big merchants upset with the fees they are paying to Visa and Mastercard to use their respective payment networks. Visa shares have fallen more than 7 per cent this month alone.

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SBI Ecowrap: Private investment revival seems around the horizon

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New investment announcements in the current year look encouraging as around ₹8.6-lakh crore have been declared so far in the last seven months of FY22 (around ₹11 trillion reported last year).

With the private sector contributing around 67 per cent of this i.e., ₹5.80-lakh crore, it seems the private investment revival is on the horizon, said Soumya Kanti Ghosh, Group Chief Economic Adviser, State Bank of India (SBI), in the latest edition of SBI Ecowrap.

India’s GDP grew by 8.4 per cent in Q2 FY22 on the back of the double-digit growth in ‘mining & quarrying and public administration, defence and other services’. The real GVA increased by 8.5 per cent, a tad higher than the GDP growth.

Nominal GDP growth jumped by 17.5 per cent, driven in part by a GDP deflator at 8.4 per cent. For Q2, seasonally adjusted real GDP growth is 6.6 per cent q-o-q compared to 10.36 per cent q-o-q non-adjusted real GDP growth. Core GVA, a proxy of private sector growth, expanded by 7.5 per cent – the highest since Q1 FY19.

“In H1 FY21, the country exhibited real GDP loss of ₹11.4-lakh crore (on y-o-y basis) due to the complete lockdown in April-May and partial lockdown in June-September. The situation has improved in FY22 and in H1 FY22, the real gain was around ₹8.2-lakh crore. This indicates that the real loss of ₹3.2-lakh crore still needs to be recouped to reach the pre-pandemic level,” Ghosh said.

Affected sectors

Sector-wise data indicates that ‘trade, hotels, transport, communication & services related to broadcasting’ are still the most affected sectors and the real loss of ₹2.6-lakh crore is still needed to be recouped in this sector.

Overall, the economy is still operating at 95.6 per cent of the pre-pandemic level (with the above-mentioned affected sectors still at 80 per cent) and should take one more quarter to recoup the losses.

In Q2 FY22, the FMCG sector reported a top-line y-o-y growth of 11 per cent while EBIDTA and PAT grew by 4 per cent each. However, the rural markets, which have shown good resilience thus far during the pandemic have slowed in the last couple of months as suggested by some of the industry majors.

However, the results of industry majors whose Q2 FY22 results have been declared (like Dabur) have still not shown a significant slowdown in the rural economy.

“The Q2 estimate of the GDP on the expenditure side largely retains the flavour of trends observed in Q1 FY22. Foremost in quarterly trends, the shares in real terms have decreased for private consumption, government consumption and exports, and have increased for imports and investments and valuables. The component which has also increased is the inventories which have surpassed the pre-Covid level of FY20,” SBI Ecowrap said.

Thus, accounting for the growth in production and concomitant accumulation of inventory, the demand side has not recovered even after the opening of the economy. The massive jump in valuables which implies savings to the tune of 2 per cent of the GDP has moved into precious metals given their inflation hedging property and postponement of marriage in FY21, it added.

“We now expect the GDP growth for FY22 to top 9.5 per cent of the RBI forecast. We believe that the real GDP growth would now be higher than the RBI’s estimate of 9.5 per cent, assuming the RBI growth numbers for Q3 and Q4 to be sacrosanct,” Ghosh said.

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Gen Z hardest hit professionally by the economic impact of Covid-19: Report

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Generation Z has been hardest hit professionally by the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a new study by the ADPRI research Institute, called ‘People at Work 2021: A Global Workforce View.’

The report is based on ADP’s survey of more than 32,000 adult workers across 17 countries.

As per the report, over 78 per cent of the 18–24 year-old cohort said that their professional lives have been affected by the pandemic.

Also read: Chipping off the old block

The survey also found two in five (39 per cent) had lost jobs, were furloughed, or suffered a temporary layoff from their employer. Whereas 28 percent of workers of all ages said the same.

Generation Z also indicated they were twice as likely to have been impacted by the pandemic compared to those aged over 55, the oldest age bracket where 19 per cent of respondents lost a job, been furloughed or were temporarily laid off with the same employer.

“This may explain the plunge in optimism of 10 percentage points (83 per cent) among them,” the report said.

In comparison, 29 per cent of professionals in the 25-34 age bracket, 25 per cent aged between 35-44 and 21 per cent of the 45-54 cohort said that they lost a job, been furloughed or were temporarily laid off with the same employer.

Gen Z to be professionally agile

Rahul Goyal, Managing Director of ADP India & Southeast Asia, said Generation Z has had to be the most professionally agile of any age group in the face of Covid-19.

“In India, more than half of young workers say they have taken up additional responsibility for fear of job loss during the pandemic,” said Goyal.

“Employees often define job security by the reach of their professional network and the ability to tap into relationships to find non-linear jobs that can extend a career. That’s exactly what Generation Z is doing: finding new ways to climb the ladder,” Goyal said.

The report also highlighted the impact the pandemic has had on employees’ attitudes toward the current world of work, their expectations of and what they hope for in the workplace of the future.

In India, 89 per cent of the Generation Z mentioned that they had to choose between work and well-being or family.

“They attributed working from home to blurring the boundaries of definitive working hours,” it said.

“The unfortunate reality of entering the workforce in a recession is large initial earnings losses. This triggers significant changes to local labour market structures that can take years to recover from. The more young people can be proactive, the better,” Goyal said.

“Covid-19 has been an emotional burden for the younger generation of workers in India, but they see themselves getting better and stronger through self-motivation, adaptability, and new personal skills. This could have long-term implications for the jobs people do and how they work in the future,” Goyal further added.

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NBFCs assets to improve on tailwinds, says Crisil Ratings

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Assets under management (AUM) of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) is set to grow 8-10 per cent to about ₹30-lakh crore in FY2023, riding on two tailwinds — improving economic activity, and strengthened balance sheet buffers, according to CRISIL Ratings.

This compares with an estimated growth of 6-8 per cent this fiscal (to about ₹27 -akh crore) and 2 per cent last fiscal (about ₹25-lakh crore AUM outstanding).

However, the credit rating agency cautioned that NBFCs face three headwinds — competition from Banks, expected increase in gross non-performing assets and funding access, which is yet to fully normalise.

The agency noted that intensifying competition from banks, flush with liquidity, that have sharpened focus on retail loans.

It assessed that GNPAs are expected to increase, mostly because of the revision in recognition norms and, to some extent, due to slippages from the restructured book.

Gurpreet Chhatwal, Managing Director, CRISIL Ratings Ltd, said: “Many NBFCs have built higher liquidity, capital and provisioning buffers in the recent past.

“That, combined with improving economic activity, puts them in a comfortable position to capitalise on growth opportunities. However, competition from banks will intensify.”

Asset quality worries have also manifested due to recent regulatory clarifications, and uncertainty over the performance of the restructured book.

While home loans and gold loans will be the least impacted, unsecured, and micro, small and medium enterprises loans will bear the brunt.

Chhatwal observed that net-net, growth will be driven by NBFCs with strong parentage and better funding access in the two largest segments — home loans and vehicle finance.

CRISIL noted that organic consolidation is also underway with larger NBFCs gaining share.

In three fiscals through 2021, the market share of the top 5 NBFCs has risen 600 basis points (bps) to 46 per cent.

The agency said the ability to identify niches that cater to the relatively difficult-to-address customer segments and asset classes will fuel long-term growth for the sector.

CRISIL expects retail loans to see reasonably broad-based growth in the current and next fiscals supported by pick-up in demand and consequently underlying sales.

Gold, home and unsecured loans should clock the fastest growth rates. On the other hand, wholesale credit would continue to degrow as platforms such as alternate investment funds gain currency.

Stressed assets

The agency expects GNPAs to increase by 25-300 basis points (bps) based on asset class because of the new recognition norm.

However, the increase in GNPAs because of the revised recognition norms will be largely an accounting impact because, given the improving economy, the credit profiles of borrowers are not expected to deteriorate. Consequently, ultimate credit losses are not expected to change significantly.

CRISIL said the performance of the restructured book is a key monitorable.

The agency noted that while there has been across-the-segment improvement in the monthly collection efficiency ratio (MCR) of NBFCs for the quarter ended September 2021, the quantum of restructuring done under the RBI Resolution Framework 2.0 is more than last year.

Since this mostly involved offering moratorium, the performance of this book after moratorium is monitorable.

Overall, fragile assets (GNPAs + slippages due to the impact of regulatory norms and from the restructured book) are seen at ₹1.3-1.6 lakh crore, tantamount to 5-6 per cent of the industry’s AUM as of March 2022.

This does not factor in the impact of a third wave of Covid-19, especially the just-discovered Omicron variant, which is a risk factor.

Krishnan Sitaraman, Senior Director and Deputy Chief Ratings Officer, CRISIL Ratings Ltd, said, “While there may be apprehensions about rising reported GNPAs, additional disclosures by NBFCs around underlying delinquency profiles and collection efficiencies can help allay them.

“Those with low leverage, high liquidity and strong parentage are expected to benefit from better funding access at optimal rates. For the rest and especially mid-sized and smaller players, co-lending, securitisation, or other partnerships with banks will facilitate a funding-light business model.”

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Analysts, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Stock markets this week will be driven mostly by updates related to the new coronavirus variant that sent equities tumbling globally on Friday, macroeconomic data announcements and auto sales numbers, analysts said. A World Health Organisation panel has named the new COVID strain ‘Omicron‘ and classified it as a highly transmissible variant of concern, the same category that includes the Delta variant.

The potentially more contagious Omicron was first reported to the WHO from South Africa on November 24, and has also been identified in Botswana, Belgium, Hong Kong and Israel. Many countries have introduced travel bans and restrictions on southern African countries in an effort to contain Omicron’s spread.

“New COVID variant, FIIs’ behaviour along with macro numbers will be key factors to drive the market this week. COVID related developments will remain key triggers for the market where the market will remain keenly interested to know the efficacy ratios of various vaccines against a new variant of COVID whereas restrictions-related news across the globe will also cause volatility,” said Santosh Meena, Head of Research, Swastika Investmart Ltd.

The Sensex nosedived 1,688 points on Friday amid concerns over the new coronavirus variant that also led to rout in global markets.

Yesha Shah, Head of Equity Research, Samco Securities, said, “Post Q2 result season, Dalal Street will look towards macros for hints to move the needle in broader markets. Inflation being a key factor will be at the centre of all news in the next two weeks since the RBI MPC meet is scheduled in December. November monthly auto sales number can be a trigger to drive some movement this week.”

Among macroeconomic data, PMI numbers for manufacturing and services sectors would also be tracked.

“Equity markets in the near term will closely follow the impact of new COVID variant, inflation data, and Central Bank policies,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Head of Equity Research (Retail), Kotak Securities Ltd.

During the last week, the BSE benchmark plunged 2,528.86 points or 4.24 per cent. PTI SUM MR



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Exim Bank commits $100 million loan for Covid vaccines in FY 22

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Export-Import Bank of India (Exim Bank) has committed loans worth $100 million for domestic manufacturers of Covid-19 vaccines or related products.

“These loans are being extended to about half a dozen drug makers in the country during the present financial year,” N Ramesh, Deputy Managing Director, Exim Bank told newspersons here on Friday.

The loans for vaccines are also being extended to other countries. “Our vaccine portfolio in Africa is a significant one with a size of $250 million,” Ramesh said.

This will be an advantage for Indian firms as the financing mandates Africa to source vaccines and related products only from India.

Borrowings

The national export credit agency has already borrowed $2.25 billion through International bonds in 144A – Reg S format.

When asked on the possible size of borrowings for FY22, Ramesh said: “We will be calibrating our borrowings with international economic factors and domestic developments.”

The bank had earlier indicated borrowings to the tune of $3 billion in the current fiscal.

Also read: Exim Bank lists billion-dollar 10-year bond on AFRINEX

Exim Bank is targeting to achieve financing of $7 billion of project exports over next five years through funds received from Government of India, he said.

Earlier in September this year, the Centre had approved a corpus infusion of ₹1,650 crore National Export Insurance Account.

Credit growth

The bank expects a credit growth of 10 per cent this year, according to Ramesh. This will be driven by ‘good’ demand from EPC, textiles, pharma and petroleum sectors, among others, he added.

Its loan portfolio increased 4.43 per cent year-on-year to ₹1,03,851 crore as on March-end 2021.

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Nomura business index hits new high of 114

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The Nomura India Business Resumption Index (NIBRI) has risen to yet another high of 114 for the week ending November 21 from 110.3 in the prior week, suggesting the business resumption index is 14 percentage points (pp) above pre-pandemic levels (i.e., 100).

Google workplace mobility rose sharply by 18.1 pp, while retail and recreation fell by 3.3 pp and the Apple driving index rose by 3.6 pp. The labour participation rate remained tepid at 39.8 per cent, while power demand rose by 0.2 per cent w-o-w, as payback from the 5.5 per cent rose in the prior week.

“A mix of supply-side headwinds and demand-side tailwinds continue to obscure the growth outlook. On the demand side, there is evidence of strong festival demand among consumers, an uptick in credit growth and robust core imports in October. Low infection rates and reopenings are also boosting mobility and services activity,” Nomura said.

“However, October auto sales have been lacklustre, reflecting not only semiconductor shortages but also the impact of weak rural demand on two-wheeler sales. The energy crunch seems to be easing, with a rise in coal stocks at power plants. Overall, we maintain our GDP growth outlook of 9.2 per cent for FY22, with a downside risk of ~1 pp due to supply issues,” Nomura added.

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Banks see robust festival season credit growth

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Banks collectively lent about four times more in the reporting fortnight ended November 5, vis-a-vis the preceding fortnight amid the festival season, indicating further improvement in credit appetite in the economy.

Banks lent ₹1,27,742 crore in the reporting fortnight ended November 5, against ₹32,671 crore in the preceding fortnight ended October 22, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data on Scheduled Banks’ Statement of Position in India.

Brickwork Ratings (BWR) in a report, noted that credit growth has begun to pick up as business activity resumes in full swing, with gross bank credit growth improving to 6.80 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y) in October 2021 against 5.80 per cent y-o-y growth in June 2021.

In a speech at State Bank of India’s Banking & Economics Conclave on November 16, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das observed that: “There are signs that consumption demand triggered by the festive season is making a strong comeback. This would encourage firms to expand capacity and boost employment and investment amidst congenial financial conditions.”

New investments

Further, with stronger balance sheets, the organised corporate sector is well-placed to make new investments in emerging areas.

“As demand recovers, I am sanguine about corporate sector playing a major role in turning the investment cycle that will facilitate absorption of surplus liquidity for productive investment,” the Governor said.

In this background, Das emphasised that it is incumbent upon a competitive and efficient financial system to identify high productive sectors and reallocate resources to harness the growth opportunities.

He opined that banks, in particular, should be investment ready when the investment cycle picks up.

The Governor said: “Improved vaccination and reduced infections have materially reduced extreme health outcomes like hospitalisation and mortality.

“This has boosted consumer confidence. With additional boost coming from the festival fervour and pent-up demand, numerous high-frequency indicators suggest that economic recovery is taking hold.”

Per the data on Scheduled Banks’ Statement of Position in India, deposit accretion was at ₹3,40,496 crore in the reporting fortnight against a de-growth of ₹38,019 crore.

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Bank of Maha sees 15% credit growth, may not need capital infusion from govt, BFSI News, ET BFSI

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Bank of Maharashtra may not need capital infusion from the government this fiscal as it has adequate funds to meet the expected credit growth of 14-15 per cent, but may raise growth capital in the next quarter.

“Our capital adequacy ratio is 14.68%. As of now we don’t require any capital from the government. Capital is also a cost, the only thing is – when to raise the capital,” Bank of Maharashtra CEO A S Rajeev told ETBFSI in an interview.

The bank has raised Rs 400 crore towards equity in the current fiscal and Rs 1,000 crore as Tier-II capital two weeks back. If the Tier II capital is considered the adequacy ratio would rise to 15.50. The bank expects Rs 1,000 crore minimum profit in the current year, which would be added to the capital. It has also provided Rs 1,000 crore for Covid, which would be added to the capital if the provisioning is not required.

Credit growth

The bank sees credit growth in the infrastructure sector and segments such as hotels that are opening up with the easing of the pandemic. The MSME segment that was witnessing restructuring is also growing.

“The retail growth is on an average 15% in all banks. In our case, it is 17-18%. MSME is around 20% in spite of all these issues. So definitely it will be above 20% in this half year,” Rajeev said.

Home loans are growing 20% growth while auto 28%. The lender expects that the chip shortage will be sorted out in the second half of this fiscal.

Bank of Maha sees 15% credit growth, may not need capital infusion from govt

Outreach programme

The bank’s outreach programme is yielding 300-350 accounts with one credit outreach programme with loans of Rs 200-250 crore, he said, adding a recent SLBC in Pune it fetched loans of Rs 348 crore for the banks involved. The bank’s core business is improving with net interest margin at 3.27%. “If you’re able to maintain a NIM of 3% and you continue with 17% core profitability. And earlier NIM was affected by huge provisioning, now risk adjusted NIM is improving because the provisioning component has come down,” Rajeev said.

FinTech collaboration

The bank is investing a huge amount for FinTech and digital, and have tied with a number of companies, especially in the analytics space. The lender has tied up with around 15 companies for joint lending, including start-ups and NBFCs. The bank is also looking at buying stakes in FinTech firms and at leasing model.

Transfer to NARCL

The lender has identified around Rs 1,800 crore of loans for transfer to the National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd and plans to shift Rs 3,500-4,000 crore fraud reported assets to the bad bank.



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‘We are adopting a cluster approach to boost MSME credit’

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Top public sector lender State Bank of India says its Chennai Circle is one of the important business regions with its leadership in advances, and agri gold loans. R Radhakrishnan, who took charge as the Chief General Manager (CGM) of State Bank of India (SBI), Chennai Circle in June this year spoke to BusinessLine about the circle’s growth areas and expansion plans. Excerpts

How was the September 2021 quarter for Chennai Circle?

Chennai Circle’s performance was fairly good in Q2FY22. In terms of growth in deposits and advances, we have achieved 47% of our annual budget in deposits and 13% of our annual budget in advances.

Have collection efficiencies across segments reached pre-Covid levels in this region?

There has been significant reduction in slippages during Q2FY22 vis-à-vis Q1FY22. The slippages decreased by 73%. The NPA percentage has also improved from 2.91% as on June 30, 2021 to 2.25% as on September 30, 2021 which is below pre-Covid level. Collection efficiency in the SME sector has not yet reached pre-Covid level. Though all out efforts are being taken to revive units through restructuring and Covid related supports, SME units are struggling to recover from the losses incurred due to lock down, cancellation of orders and migration of labour.

You are a big player in the MSME segment and TN is also known for MSMEs. How big is the MSME portfolio and how has it grown in the past few years ?

Presently the Circle is having an SME Portfolio of ₹21,000 crore excluding our large & mid corporate portfolio of ₹58,061 crore. In total, we are having exposure of ₹80,000 crore in SME. Our MSME portfolio stands at ₹14,462 crore. We have exposure to manufacturing and retail trade in various sectors such as textiles, heavy commercial vehicles, auto components, automobiles, leather, fabrication, cement, sugar, paper, IT related services and safety matches.

The Tamil Nadu government recently announced MSME Policy 2021 and set a target to attract ₹2 trillion in new investments in the MSME sector by 2025 and achieve an annual growth of 15% in the manufacturing sector. We have also planned to increase our MSME portfolio by ₹3,756 crore by the end of March 2022. We are adopting a cluster approach to grow in each segment of the MSME spectrum. We have also launched Sanjeevani & Aarogya MSME loan products targeting the health sector.

What are some of the major growth areas for this circle?

The Circle has a total business portfolio of ₹3.08 trillion with ₹1.83 trillion in deposits and ₹1.25 trillion in advances. Its portfolio is almost equally distributed in SME, agri and retail segments. Home loan segment contributes to 38% of total advances. Some of the major growth areas for this Circle are retail loans, housing loans, gold loans, SHGs and MSME Loans.

How does Chennai circle compare with other zones of SBI?

Chennai Circle consists of 1,247 branches spread over the geographical area of Tamil Nadu & Pondicherry. Our branch share is 10.60%. Our deposit share is 18.20 % and advances share is 17.50 % among all the banks in this zone. We have a network of 5,348 ATM/ADWMs with a market share of 19%. Chennai Circle stands pan-India No.1 in aggregate advances & agri gold loans. It has the third highest portfolio in housing loans.

What are your business targets for this fiscal and how are you planning to achieve the same?

For FY 2021-22, we have planned to grow ₹10,386 crore in CASA deposits and ₹19,433 crore in total deposits. We have planned to grow our aggregate advances portfolio by ₹19,138 crore.

Could you also provide details on the branch expansion/ rationalisation plans?

Last financial year, we opened 22 branches including 10 SME branches. As on date, we have 2,742 Customer Service Points (CSPs) in Chennai Circle apart from 1,247 branches. We are planning to open 700 CSPs during this fiscal and 3 more branches to extend our services in unbanked areas.

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