TN is one of our top contributors: Fincare Small Finance Bank

The Bengaluru-based bank, which expanded its network in Andhra Pradesh last year, now has its eyes on TN. Rajeev Yadav, MD and CEO, says the bank is “deeply committed to TN market and has plans to enlarge its presence even further.” Excerpts from an interview:

Fincare has had a long association with TN market. It is among the top contributors to the total business of the bank. We have 109 banking outlets in TN compared to the seven in Andhra Pradesh. On the lending side, we have been a provider of micro-loans since 2007. As on date, the bank has 5.57 lakh clients in TN with portfolio outstanding of Rs 1,105.13 crore. The bank also offers loan against gold, loan against property, two-wheeler loans and affordable housing loans in this market. The bank also has over 19,000 deposit customers with balances of over Rs 545 crore.

Banking with the under-banked and the unbanked has helped us beat the slowdown that has affected the growth of some of the large banks. We have more than doubled our branch network in two years. We will continue to grow faster than the industry. Today, we have reached the milestone of crossing Rs 7,500 crore of business. The last two years have been good in terms of growth and the slowdown has not affected our business. The fact that we transformed from a micro-finance company to a bank gave us an edge over other players.

The levers of trust, technology and transparency are a way of life at Fincare. Therefore, despite the slowdown in economic growth in recent times, we sustained our growth momentum. As a small finance bank, a large share of our portfolio comes from the micro-loans business. India is the largest micro-finance market in the world, and although micro-finance in India is restricted to simple, unsophisticated loans, the sector has thrived, thanks to a large unmet demand, and has built a formidable business model, lending to millions of unbanked and under-banked households.

Our key business differentiator has been and will be our digital offerings and the higher interest rate offering on the deposit. As a relatively new entrant in the banking sector the high-interest rate on deposits has helped us mobilise low cost deposits to fund our growth. At the end of the September quarter, our deposit growth has risen by 155 per cent while our loan book has increased by 60 per cent.

Fincare has adopted this mantra in order to become smarter and sharper with its value proposition to customers. The promise of ‘Wish More, Get More’ to customers is backed by a culture of digital, solid push for automation and speed of execution in order to build a best-in-class customer engagement and seamless experience across channels.

In the technology domain, there will be strong accentuation on Artificial Intelligence and advanced analytics to power the bank further and understand clients better. We have plans for the introduction of Chatbots in aiding customer support and handling transactions, money transfer, suggestions on products and services.