Indian Bank may enter insurance sector

Source:21 Apr 2010, 2048 hrs IST,Nageshwar Patnaik,ET Bureau


BHUBANESWAR: Indian Bank is exploring options to add insurance products to its portfolio. For this, the Bank may partner with foreign players, if need be, Indian Bank executive director V Ram Gopal, said in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters here, Mr Gopal said the Indian Bank was bullish about its growth and he hoped that the inclusion of insurance products would further boost the bank’s business prospects.

“We are quite bullish about our growth. For the 2010-11 fiscal, we are eyeing a 22% growth in our business. We have set a target of Rs 2, 10,000 crore turnover for the year and 16% increase in our net profit,” Mr Gopal said.

Claiming that the national credit-deposit (CD) ratio of the Bank was 71% in the last fiscal, the ED said the Indian Bank always focused on winning the trust of its clientele, especially in priority sectors, by increasing the volume of lending.

He informed that the total lending of the Bank by March 31 was Rs 61,000 crore as against a total deposit of Rs 88,000 crore.

“Our priority sector lending is much above the stipulated 40%. In micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) sector together with retails, the total lending by March 31 was Rs 8,360 crore. In agriculture sector, our lending is much above the stipulated 18%,” he informed.