The Thrissur-based Dhanlaxmi Bank has charted out a road map for the next three years to increase its business from the current ₹27,000 crore to ₹45,000 crore.
Ajith Kumar K.K., Managing Director and CEO told businessline that the bank is looking at a double-digit growth from the next fiscal, as the rising trend in business during this year is expected to continue compared to the single-digit growth achieved during the past many years.
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“We were at ₹24,500 crore business beginning FY 2025,” he said adding that gold loans continue to be the biggest portfolio in the business constituting 33 per cent of the advance book followed by retail products, MSME advances, etc.
To achieve the targeted goal, he said the bank is focusing on improving productivity, investing more in technology and leveraging on it, branch expansion, up-skilling of employees etc.
In the next three years, the bank is planning to add more branches in Tier 2 and Tier 3 locations, subject to regulatory approvals. “By the time we complete the centennial in 2027-28, we should be adding another 100 branches, which are mainly in the south,” Ajith Kumar said.
Asked on the plans for a pan India presence, the MD said “Our Bank has presence in 13 states and 3 union territories. We have a decent presence in the south and want to scale up in those areas that will derive more business and visibility on an immediate basis.”
The ₹297 crore Rights Issue was the major activity that has happened recently and it was oversubscribed by 1.65 times. This would help the bank to increase the capital adequacy to 16.5 per cent plus, he said.
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On the NPA position, he said it is steadily declining from 5.19 per cent as on March 31, 2023 to 4.05 per cent as on March 31, 2024 and to 3.53 per cent as on December 31, 2024, mainly because of the introduction of efficient recovery and collection measures. Most of these NPA’s have come from legacy loans. However, the bank is not anticipating any NPAs out of the loans sanctioned in the recent years.
To woo millennials and Gen Z customers, the bank has designed fee management software for educational institutions in January this year for collection of fees and other aspects related to students. The bank has already tied up with a few schools and has also set a suite of other products for the millennials and Gen Z customers like Dhanam Genius and Yuvak variant savings accounts, Dhansmart and Dhan Delight Digital banking platforms and so on.
