Tag: investment

Bank deposits contract in the post Diwali fortnight, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


Banks deposits contracted by over a lakh crore in the post Diwali fortnight as investors applied in huge amounts for the big ticket IPOs lined up during the fortnight ended November 19

Aggregate deposits in the banking system dipped Rs 2.67 lakh crore during the fortnight ended November 19 to Rs 157.8 lakh crore, latest RBI data indicates. Both demand and term deposits contracted sharply during the fortnight by Rs 1.52 lakh crore and Rs 2.67 crore respectively.

Analysts attribute this largely to investors using the money parked in banks to apply for many big ticket IPOs during the fortnight. These included PayTM, Sapphire Foods and paisabazar.com among others. “The sharp contraction in deposits during the fortnight is probably driven by withdrawal for IPOs ” said an economist with a foreign bank. “There was a big jump in deposits in the previous fortnight.”

But on a long-term basis deposits continue to post a strong growth despite banks lowering interest rates earned on them. Weighted average term deposit rates have fallen by over 50 basis points-bps over the last one year. Yet, the year-on-year deposit growth is 9.8 per cent as of November 19, as bank deposits continue to be a risk free avenue of investment for savers. It is reckoned that bank deposits account for nearly half of household financial savings in India as they have been typically risk averse. But this mind-set is slowly changing, experts say.

As for credit, there was a modest pick-up of Rs 1,158 core during the fortnight. But on a long-term basis, banks are seeing a pick-up in loan demand as economic activity picks up following easing of lockdown induced restrictions. On a year-on-year basis, credit growth worked out to 6.9 per cent as of November 19, compared to less than 6 per cent a few years ago.

As per the latest data on sectoral deployment of bank credit, loans to large corporates rose 0.5 per cent (on a year-on-year basis) to Rs 22.7 lakh crore in October compared to a contraction of 1.8 per cent a year ago. All major segments except services including agriculture, industry and retail posted higher growth rates over previous year.



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Leave a comment , , , , , ,

SBI Ecowrap: Private investment revival seems around the horizon

Banking & Finance

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


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.

[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Leave a comment , , , , ,

India’s First Game-Based Investment Start-up Fello Raises 1 Million USD, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Personal Finance

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


Fello, India’s first game-based investment start-up, has raised $1 million in a seed round led by global talent investor, Entrepreneur First (EF). Other investors in the seed round included Acequia Capital, Kube VC, Upsparks, JITO Angels, Dexter Angels, and independent investors Ashneer Groover, Co-founder, BharatPe, Bala Parthasarathy, CEO & Co-founder, MoneyTap, Faiz Mayalakkara, Director of Investments of Emirates Investment Authority and Charlie Songhurst.

Fello co-founders, Manish Maryada and Shourya Lala met for the first time at EF in August 2020. In a span of just three months – by October 2020 – they had built an extraordinary fintech start-up that leverages its proprietary games to turn Gen-Z gamers into financial investors. Both the founders with their different skill-sets and background – one a finance graduate from Texas A&M University with deep domain expertise in financial operations, strategy, and product, and the other a computer science engineer and award-winning app developer – made the company’s journey exciting and seamless. Since the new product launch in the first week of November, the company has attracted 100,000+ users on the Fello app just within a short span of 2 weeks, with over 80% of the users being first-time investors.

With a vision to build better financial profiles for the youth of India, Fello plans to leverage the funding to expand its young team, scale the product, and gear up for more game-based finance products to disrupt the nascent space in India. The aim is to reach a million users investing and playing on the app in the next three quarters, by penetrating deeper into tier 1 and tier 2 markets across the country.

Commenting on the company’s funding, Esha Tiwary, Partner & Head at Entrepreneur First, India said, “Manish and Shourya are young, hungry founders who have their pulse on the needs and aspirations of India’s GenZ population. In a crowded investment market, they have found a clear niche and are able to attract and retain GenZ customers and build healthy investment habits. They are a perfect example of companies formed through the EF platform – bright minds from tech and business coming together to solve large impactful problems. We are very excited to continue to be a part of their journey.,

Manish Maryada and Shourya Lala, Co-founders, Fello, said, “Two industries, which have witnessed exponential growth over the past two years are gaming and personal finance. India boasts of over 400 million mobile gamers, yet only 2% of the total population are active investors. Fello, a product built at the intersection of gaming and finance, brings an unprecedented scope for disruption. While an overwhelming majority of our early users were first-time investors, 60% have gone on to reinvest. Moreover, 94% of the user base was acquired through simple organic referrals. These figures show strong early momentum and validation that making finance fun can motivate an entirely new generation to start building healthier financial profiles.,

Commenting on the funding, Mohamad Faraz, Founding Partner, Upsparks said, “Fello’s growth in the early stages has shown the immense capabilities and potential for growth that the startup has. The Co-founders Manish and Shourya come with extensive experience in the finance and technology sector. We have witnessed and believe in the team’s unique ability to create one of the biggest achievements – merging finance with gaming. With several users already present on the platform and the high retention rate that the startup has achieved, we take pride in being a part of their journey in reaching their future goals and growth.,

Ashneer Groover, co-founder of BharatPe and one of the sharks of Shark Tank India says, “Finance is boring. Savings is even more boring. By gamifying the experience of investing using technology – there is potential to expand the investing market significantly. Fello is trying to solve this relevant problem statement.,

Fello is also among the nine companies selected for the CIIE Fintech Inclusion Programme of 2021, which will support them in their plans of rapid expansion into tier 2 and tier 3 cities.About Fello

Founded in 2021, Fello is a game-based savings and investment application to save, play and get returns more than a traditional savings bank account. It makes savings fun and easy through fun, exciting and rewarding games. Users can start saving and investing in assets like Digital Gold and receive gaming tokens for every rupee they invest. Using these tokens, they can play fun in-house games like Cricket and Tambola and win exciting prizes every week.

About Entrepreneur First

Founded in 2011, Entrepreneur First is the world’s leading technology talent investor, bringing together extraordinary people to build startups from scratch in London, Singapore, Berlin, Paris, Toronto, and Bangalore. Through their $200m fund, the company invests in individuals to find a world-class co-founder, develop an idea and fund the deep technology businesses they create.

Entrepreneur First has created 300 companies, which include Magic Pony Technology (acquired by Twitter), Represent (acquired by CustomInk), Bloomsbury AI (acquired by Facebook), Tractable, Cleo, OpenCosmos, CloudNC, Transcelestial, and many more. The global investor is backed by Reid Hoffman, Greylock Partners, Founders Fund, Mosaic Ventures, and Lakestar.



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Leave a comment , , , , , ,

All that is dubious about crypto currencies

Banking & Finance

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


It is quite timely that the government and regulators are looking closely at cryptocurrency. The interesting part is that it does not come under SCRA and hence SEBI is not involved. It does not involve financial institutions and hence RBI is out. It has not been declared illegal by the Courts and hence the government cannot do anything as of now. It is a unique fad because it is prevalent across the world and more importantly it trades without there being any underlying value.

Crypto is a creation of the imagination which is protected by technology and brought on to several platforms which enables trading. Anyone can start their own crypto, but multitude of people need to believe in it and start trading. Not surprisingly even though there are over 7,000 such currencies not more than 10 are actively traded and command value. Clearly lots of people have tried floating their imaginary currencies and have failed. It runs on belief and trust with no regulators to lay down the rules.

Two things stand out here which needs to be answered by regulators.

First, is whether it is being used as a mode of transaction. Currently there is no information if people are buying and selling property and paying partly in crypto currency. If such things are happening, then it is something the RBI should be concerned about, because we cannot have parallel currencies in the country. It is illegal to carry out transactions in foreign currency in India and while barter exists in some pockets it is not the rule. If a crypto is allowed to become a currency for transactions, then it will undermine monetary policy and the entire system of payments will go for a toss. And finally in case there is a crash in value, the investors will lose money for which there is no recourse.

Also, there is need to know more on how these transactions take place. There are exchanges which allow one to trade; and it is still unclear whether the transactions are in rupees and remain in this currency or get converted to dollars. If it is in rupees and mimics what happens to the crypto globally then it is not serious, but if there are conversions into dollars then there would be a FEMA rule to contend with.

The exchanges which promote trading in crypto are transparent in terms of doing a KYC of all players. This aspect needs to be clear because if there is conversion into dollars at any stage it needs to be within the guidelines put by the RBI.

Investment option

The second aspect is the investment option. If cryptos are being used as an investment option by people, then the nature of debate changes. The exchanges vouch that there is KYC done for every customer and that all taxes are paid on the gains. It is still not clear if the gains come under short or long term and the I-T Department will have to decide on this issue.

The broader issue is that if one can trade in imaginary currencies it does tantamount to gambling which is partly permitted in the country. Horse racing and the bets that go along with this avocation is legitimate as are lotteries. Casinos can operate in some States. If trading in cryptos fall in this category, then as an extension it can be argued that people should be allowed to gamble on cricket matches too and there should be a level playing field.

Therefore, there is need to do a deep dive analysis into this entire issue of crypto currency as the level of interest is high and increasing. Part of the reason is that people want to make quick money and the present avenues of savings — bank deposits which give a paltry return — makes these alternatives alluring. Allowing such investments also risks savings getting diverted for speculative purposes which is not good for an economy which normally has a big gap in savings and investments.

Besides people investing should know what they are up against. SEBI runs strong campaigns along with the stock exchanges to caution investors on trading as well as investing in mutual funds which all have ‘underlying’ products like shares, commodities or bonds. For something fictional, people need to know what they are up against, because when there is a crash there can be an issue. The price of bitcoin had risen from $8,527 on March 1, 2020 to a high of $62,986 on April 15, 2021 and then fell to $30,822 on July 20, 2021. It again crossed $67,000 on November 9. Intuitively it can be seen that there would be several gainers and losers in this game and those who are in the latter category could be the ones who have been lured by the lucre.

Threat for central banks

Globally this has become a wave which cannot be stopped. Some states in the US accept bitcoins for transactions as do some of the Nordic countries. It is not a good precedent for central banks which will see their power over monetary policy getting denuded. Interestingly, the concept of crypto emerged on the premise that central banks and governments mismanage money and make them worthless with loose policies. This made the concept of bitcoin enticing driving its popularity.

The fear of a backlash at some point of time is palpable and this concept can be likened to a Frankenstein which may be hard to push back once it grows roots in the system. Ideally a call should be taken for sure to make it illegal for transactions as this strikes the edifice of not just the financial system but also monetary policy. On whether it should be allowed as a form of gambling, there can be further debate.

The government need not be concerned over people who are aware of the downside of cryptos, but the less financially literate need to be educated just as it is done for sin products. Maybe a bold print saying ‘trading in crypto can be bad for your financial health’ can be the beginning.

The writer is an independent economist and author of: Hits & Misses: The Indian Banking Story. Views expressed are personal

[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Leave a comment , , , , , ,

ITI Mutual Fund launches banking and financial services fund, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Personal Finance

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


ITI Mutual Fund has announced the launch of ‘ITI Banking and Financial Services Fund’. The NFO will be available for subscription till November 29. Minimum application amount is Rs 5,000 and in multiples of Rs. 1 thereafter. The fund will be jointly managed by Pradeep Gokhale and Pratibh Agarwal. This is the 15th fund launched by the AMC in two years of its existence.

The fund will invest in banking and financial services which will include banks, insurance companies, rating agencies and new fintechs that are emerging among others.

“Banking and Financial Services are well regulated in India and have witnessed uninterrupted growth over the last few years. The fund house is confident of offering a unique investment experience to its investors by adopting a diligent and research-backed investment process. The fund house follows the investment philosophy of SQL – Margin of Safety, Quality of the business and Low Leverage, and offers a superior investment experience to its investors,” said George Heber Joseph, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer, ITI Mutual Fund.

According to the press release, the current AUM of the fund house is Rs 2,239 crore as on 31st October, 2021. Out of the total AUM, equity AUM accounted for Rs 1,588 crore while hybrid and debt schemes accounted for Rs 319 crore and Rs 333 crore respectively.



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Leave a comment , , , ,

HDFC Securities , BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


HDFC Securities has reduce call on Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd. with a target price of Rs 20. The current market price of Ujjivan Small Finance Bank is Rs 21.

Time period given by analyst is one year when Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd. price can reach defined target.
Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd., incorporated in the year 2016, is a banking company (having a market cap of Rs 3638.10 Crore).

Ujjivan Small Finance Bank Ltd. key Products/Revenue Segments include Interest & Discount on Advances & Bills, Income From Investment, Interest On Balances with RBI and Other Inter-Bank Funds for the year ending 31-Mar-2021.

Financials
For the quarter ended 30-09-2021, the company reported a Standalone Total Income of Rs 691.93 Crore, down -3.40 % from last quarter Total Income of Rs 716.29 Crore and down -15.41 % from last year same quarter Total Income of Rs 818.01 Crore. The bank reported net profit after tax of Rs -273.79 Crore in latest quarter.

Investment Rationale
Ujjivan SFB reported yet another quarter of loss at INR2.74bn as the stressed pool remained persistently elevated. While the aggregate stress pool (PAR>0) declined sequentially from 31% to 19%, the excessive stress suggests normalisation would be delayed beyond FY22. Restructured book increased from 5.5% to 10.2% sequentially, with loan loss coverage at 75% (including INR0.25bn of COVID provisions), driven by accelerated provisioning at ~10.4% of gross advances. Business momentum was revived with disbursals of INR31.2bn (near pre-COVID levels) and a declining share of MFI loans (70%). With limited visibility of RoA reflation and a stubborn stress pool, it downgrades Ujjivan SFB from ADD to REDUCE with a revised TP of INR20 (earlier INR34) and downgrade Ujjivan Financial Services from BUY to ADD with a revised TP of INR189 (earlier INR322).

Promoter/FII Holdings
Promoters held 83.32 per cent stake in the company as of 30-Sep-2021, while FIIs owned 0.56 per cent, DIIs 0.76 per cent.



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Leave a comment , , , , , , , ,

Fintech platform Groww raises $251 m in Series-E funding

Banking & Finance

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


Fintech platform Groww has raised $251 million at a valuation of $3 billion, led by ICONIQ Growth. The current round also saw participation from investors like Alkeon, Lone Pine Capital and Steadfast.

Groww’s existing investors Sequoia Capital, Ribbit Capital, YC Continuity, Tiger Global and Propel Venture Partners also participated in the round.

Extending reach

Started in 2016, Groww enables Indian retail investors to invest in direct mutual funds, stocks, ETFs and IPO. Groww plans to extend its reach to the under-penetrated geographies, strengthen the team and scale tech infrastructure. The company also plans to continue making significant investments in spreading financial education and awareness.

Lalit Keshre, CEO and Co-Founder of Groww, said, “Over the last five years, we have built a product that customers love and have lowered the barriers to investing across India. We are making a difference in the lives of millions of Indians by democratising access. And it seems the journey has just begun with such a huge opportunity ahead of us.”

Financial services market

“Groww has been helping transform the way India invests by building a platform that exemplifies simplicity, trust, and constant innovation. The financial services market in India is already large, growing rapidly, and ripe for disruption. During the last couple of years, Groww has demonstrated that they are ready to seize that opportunity through strong accelerating momentum predicated on strength of technology,” said Yoonkee Sull, partner at ICONIQ Growth.

Groww was founded by Lalit Keshre, Harsh Jain, Neeraj Singh and Ishan Bansal. Groww enables retail investors to access financial products and services through its web and mobile app on both iOS and Android. Groww is backed by marquee investors, including Sequoia Capital India, Y Combinator, Ribbit Capital, Tiger Global and Iconiq Growth.

[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Leave a comment , , , , ,

China to speed up local bond issuance to support slowing economy, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Personal Finance

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


BEIJING, – China intends to accelerate the pace of local government special bond issuance to bolster investment and economic growth, the finance ministry said on Friday, striving to complete the annual quota by the end of November.

Policymakers are seeking to support a faltering recovery, as economic growth in the third quarter was the slowest this year, due partly to power shortages and wobbles in the property sector.

China’s local governments issued a net 2.22 trillion yuan ($346.97 billion) in special bonds in the first nine months of 2021, accounting for 61% of the annual quota, Li Dawei, an official at the finance ministry, told a briefing.

“The pace of issuance has quickened significantly since August,” Li said.

“We will strive to complete the 2021 special bond quota by the end of November to continue to promote the positive role of special bonds in local economic and social development,” he said.

China has set an annual quota of 3.65 trillion yuan for local government special bonds, which mainly fund infrastructure projects, this year.

The figures suggest that local governments could issue a monthly average of 717 billion yuan in special bonds in October and November, a sharp increase from the first nine months.

About half of the funds raised from the special bonds in January-September went to transport, urban infrastructure and industrial parks, with the rest going to affordable housing, education and health care sectors, Li said.

China’s fiscal revenue fell 2.1% in September from a year earlier due to slowing economic growth and statistical base effects, Liu Jinyun, a second ministry official, told the briefing.

“Fiscal revenue growth is likely to show a downward trend in the next few months,” Liu said, adding that the government remains on track to achieve its planned revenue this year, and the budgeted spending will be guaranteed, Liu said. Fiscal revenue grew 16.3% in the first nine months from a year earlier to 16.4 trillion yuan, while fiscal spending rose 2.3% from a year earlier to 17.9 trillion yuan, Liu said. ($1 = 6.3982 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Leave a comment , , , , , , ,

Franklin Templeton strengthens Emerging Markets Equity-India team with new hires

Banking & Finance

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


Franklin Templeton on Monday said it has appointed Ajay Argal and Venkatesh Sanjeevi as portfolio managers in a bid to strengthen its Emerging Markets Equity – India team.

Effective October 12, 2021, Argal and Sanjeevi have joined the firm as portfolio managers and both are based at the Franklin Templeton offices in Chennai, reporting to Anand Radhakrishnan who heads up the Emerging Markets Equity – India team, the fund house said in a statement.

Argal will be the designated portfolio manager for Franklin India Focused Equity Fund and Franklin Build India Fund. He has worked with asset management firms such as Barings in Hong Kong, Aditya Birla Mutual Fund and UTI Mutual Fund. Sanjeevi will manage Franklin India Bluechip Fund & Franklin India Equity Advantage Fund in his role.

Also read: Franklin Templeton gets ₹693 cr for 6 debt funds

He was previously a senior investment manager at Pictet Asset Management in London, where he was the co-lead portfolio manager for the Pictet Indian Equities Fund. He has also worked as portfolio manager at ICICI Prudential AMC and Edelweiss Asset Management, Mumbai.

“Investing in our equity capabilities has been a strategic priority for us and over time we have built a deep bench of talent,” Anand Radhakrishnan, MD and CIO – Emerging Markets Equity – India, Franklin Templeton, said.

“We are delighted to welcome Ajay and Venkatesh to our team and believe their extensive experience in India and abroad will be valuable in identifying investment opportunities and managing our flagship offerings for our investors,” he added.

In addition, after more than 16 years with the firm, Roshi Jain, Portfolio Manager, will be leaving the company effective October 31, 2021, for personal reasons. Going forward, Jain’s portfolio responsibilities will be managed by Argal and Sanjeevi, supported by other investment managers and experienced analysts of Franklin Templeton Emerging Markets Equity – India.

[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Leave a comment , , , ,

Bank of Baroda, BFSI News, ET BFSI

Banking & Finance

[ad_1]

Read More/Less


Bank of Baroda has been the first of the nationalised banks to have completed the amalgamation of two smaller banks with itself. The bank’s experiences in the merger have helped other consolidating public sector banks to draw their strategy. In an interview with TOI, MD & CEO Sanjiv Chadha speaks of the road ahead…

How has the second quarter been in terms of business?

There have been challenges in credit growth — the investment cycle in particular — for the last few years. Even today capacity utilisation is about 70% and it’s only when it moves up to 80% that you get a serious round of investments. We are seeing some investment in brownfield projects in companies that have gone through an ownership change. We are seeing large capacities in areas like renewable energy. We also have a large investment in electric vehicles. We are seeing progress in going beyond green shoots. For this to gather momentum and become a full-fledged revival of the investment cycle, we might be a few months away.

On the asset quality side, do you see more clean-up happening?

There has been a broad-based improvement in the corporate credit cycle, which we have seen for the last few quarters. Corporate slippage has had come down dramatically compared to what was the case in the previous quarters. Challenges in retail and MSME have got accentuated during the pandemic. Overall, in terms of credit quality for banks, I think we should see an improvement notwithstanding the challenges that we saw with the second wave.

When do you expect RBI to start normalising its monetary policy?

I think there are two pieces to the monetary policy stimulus. One has been in terms of rates and the other has been in terms of liquidity. So, you would expect that the liquidity piece will start getting normalised first. Change in the rate cycle is a few quarters ahead. The distortions in risk pricing due to liquidity surplus should get sorted and we should start seeing credit risk that way it would be in normal times.

You have launched a new digital platform BoB world. What does this mean for customers?

Covid has brought a broad and deep transformation and nearly twice the number of customers visiting the branch, now use the app. So rather than being an adjunct to the bank, it will be the bank and the other parts of the bank will become an adjunct. The thought was to enable everything that can be done in the branch within the app. Therefore, we got down to see what should be the design, branding and positioning of the app. BoB world will be the primary interface at the centre of the bank.

What is the effort that has gone into the back-end?

The bank has been making investments and was identified as the best technology bank of 2021 by the IBA. The integration (of Dena and Vijaya Bank) on a common platform after the merger gave us a robust base to build this strategy.

How scalable is the core banking platform for digital?

Today we 13 million customers using bob World which is a very robust platform and scalable. For the future cloud computing will be a very important element as this will help scale up not only in terms of users but also multiple fintech partners on the platform.

Will bob World be a super app like SBI’s Yono and are you integrating the subsidiaries?

The way the app is being positioned that you can save, borrow, invest and pay. All four capabilities are in the app and are being scaled up every day. In addition to the regular transaction, we are having things like airline ticket booking and comparison shopping across merchants to bring the cheapest proposition to the customers. The other important thing is the benefit programme which depends on the category you choose in terms of the balance you would like to maintain.

How do you as a 100-year bank plan to attract millennials?

The marketing campaign is squarely aimed at millennials. The design is something they will find appealing. They can open the account entirely online through video KYC and the account will have benefits including Amzon Prime.

Will you be part of the account aggregator platform?

It is a conversation that we are still having. But having a platform of this sort gives you a very powerful lever to make sure you can profit from certain engagements.

Will BoB World be restricted to retail?

We’re starting off with retail with about 95% of all retail services now available on mobile. The logical next step is to fashion it for other segments.

On the corporate side are there any gaps in digital banking that you will fill?

The primary banking channel for banks is mobile. Not too far ahead the mobile phone is likely to become an important piece particularly for MSME and that is what we will target next in Bob World.

How do you plan to reach unbanked areas and push the financial inclusion agenda?

It’s a matter of great pride for us that while we have a 6-7% share in banking. Our share in Jan Dhan Yojana is 15%. So one piece of service delivery will be digital but that may not be relevant to people who are on the other side of the digital divide. We have a very aggressive programme for increasing our business correspondent and increase their number from two for every branch to five BCs for every bank branch that we have. We want to double the BC outlets to 50,000.

Would you be hiring people?

The amalgamation has brought about efficiencies, but we have not shed people. Redeployment will help in filling marketing and other vacancies. We will continue to recruit specialists. For instance, we are now recruiting wealth relationship managers. We may also recruit for specific skills like digital banking. But there may not be much of an increase in the headcount.



[ad_2]

CLICK HERE TO APPLY

Leave a comment , , , , ,
1 2 3 4