(Disclosure:I am market making in the shares of Ratnakar Bank)
Ahuja and his team have hoisted the sails of RBL to favourable winds. Its net advances and demand deposits soared over 50 per cent to Rs 9,835 crore and Rs 2,341 crore, respectively, in the past four years. In terms of size, it logged assets worth Rs 18,198 crore last fiscal and added 51 branches, widening its overall reach to 185 branches and 350 ATMs, with more than five lakh clients.
While intending to grow at a fast pace, RBL has managed to trim instances of credit defaults and a resultant NPA pile-up. Its gross and net NPAs stood at 0.79 per cent and 0.31 per cent, respectively — among the lowest in the industry. RBL has grown in the range of 40-50 per cent across key business parameters, making it the ‘Fastest Growing Small Bank’ in the BW | Businessworld-PwC Best Banks Survey 2014.
“Fast growth was part of the plan,” says Ahuja. “We were a small bank, with a balance sheet size of less than Rs 2,500 crore in 2010. Now, we are above Rs 20,000 crore and growing. We’re operating on a small base, but it’s more difficult to grow a small bank in a market with so many sophisticated players. It becomes even more difficult when there are legacy issues to sort out.”
The bank is focusing on expanding its customer base and not particularly the balance sheet. Mid- and low-market rural customers are still its focus. The bank has reached out to smaller markets in Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. It disburses about one-third of its loans to farmers, small businesses and low-income consumers.
“Our model is more credit-led than deposit-led,” says Ahuja. “Our development banking/ financial inclusion vertical is initially credit-led. Once you have sufficient penetration and basic savings accounts, the pipeline is in place. That is when we lay out our other products — starting from a basic account to small remittances, then some balances and some other products.”
RBL plans to hit the equities market with a public offering, which market sources say may be worth Rs 1,250 crore. Besides raising capital, the public issue would provide an exit route to many of RBL’s private equity investors. “The top five-eight investors will stay with us even after the IPO,” predicts Ahuja. –from BusinessWorld