IDBI Bank may consider an equity dilution in the next 12-18 months though chairman and managing director, RM Malla said plans are premature.
?The government’s stake is currently 65% and so there is room for us to bring this down to 51%,? he said.
Meanwhile, in a bid to woo customers and increase the proportion of the current and savings accounts (CASA), the bank has waived off all charges relating to CASA accounts. IDBI Bank’s total CASA, at 14% of its total deposits, is lower as compared to those of its competitors. The bank is targeting an increase in CASA to 30-40%, the current industry level, in due course,? said BP Singh, DMD, IDBI Bank. Malla, said there will be no impact on the bank’s cost to income ratio, adding that the expenses can be compensated with focus on services like loan advisory and syndicating large corporate loans.
He added that the bank would continue with this offer for some time. Customers need not pay for services like cash services, account closures, account statements, issuance of demand drafts, cheque-books, credit or debit cards, ATM interchange and DD cancellations.
Says R K Bansal, ED and group head retail banking,?We hope to double our customer base from the current 50 lakh to 1 crore in the next twelve months.?
The bank also plans to open 250 branches and take its total branch network to 1,000 by the end of 2010. It will also increase its ATM network by up to 25-30% and install point of sales machines.