Outgoing MD's 'no sub-6% corporate, RAM-only' stance flipped under Kalyan Kumar: corporate book +23% Q3, +14.5% Q4.

Can I get some guidance on growth for the year, looking at such large advance, what is the ROA, ROE, NIM guidance? About the corporate and RAM book, you've given a guidance. Do we see because of GIFT City, what kind of pipeline are we likely to generate? What is our undisbursed corporate loan and retail pipeline looking like?

Yes, Bank had released guidance about composition of our advances, RAM and corporate, and our guidance to market towards the resources side, 11% to 12% in deposit growth and 14% to 16% in advances growth. During current quarter also, we are going to align with this guidance, which we have given to the market. Bank's RAM sector has grown by 21.38%. Retail approximately 24%, agriculture 21%, MSME 18%. The opportunities are there. Our presence and network are also very supportive, conducive. Bank is confident about its achievement towards guidance already given to the market. Corporate Credit as of June '25 was ₹76,966 crores and it has grown to ₹1,12,770 crores registering growth of 46.52%. As base was very low that's why the growth number is visible to us and major areas on corporate side is renewable energy, data centres and some projects in HAM, good opportunities we are observing. We are getting good proposals under CRE also. In MSME also, Bank is getting good traction, agriculture, gold loan and SHG are going to be the growth engine. Bank brought in some structural changes also. Dedicated gold loan division and also SHG division are being opened where head of these verticals will directly work under the guidance of Executive Director. In Gold Loan segment, total book is ₹36,000 crores. So, growth is good as compared to previous year, but still a lot of scope is available in terms of our presence in South India, which has very good experience of gold loan. SHG side also there is growth, but still a lot of opportunities are available. Bank going to harness these segments, which are going to be the growth engine for our credit growth. Deposit side already in my earlier address also, I have already conveyed that several products for several customers are available. I will give you an example regarding one product, Cent Queen, we got very good traction, ₹1,457 crores mobilized under Cent Queen. There is one product that is Salary Cent Prestige. ₹787 crores were mobilized in that segment. So these things actually act as platform for cross-selling for our retail business, vehicle loan, housing loan, car loans. Therefore, these numbers we will be able to achieve very easily. Now coming to ROA and NIM. I have given guidance, NIM will be 3% and above and still we are maintaining. ROA 1% and above, that also we have maintained and remain 1% and above. ROE also improved from 14.17% to 14.92%. In that way, all the efficiency parameters, again, business per branches, we are at ₹185 crores per branch. Per employee business also improved to ₹24 crores.

What would be our growth advance undisbursed number today? And where do you see you ending a CD ratio for the year and outlook on treasury and digital spend for the year?

Undisbursed advances is approximately ₹5,000 crores. We conduct New Business Group (NBG) meeting every week for approving new business proposals. This time treasury income is ₹276 crores. As compared to previous year, it is less, you understand due to market conditions and all it got impacted. But this time, we aimed for getting more return in investment side also, we are taking initiatives, that side also expecting some moderation and improvement we are expecting.

Any view on ECL provision?

Under ECL, we have already made provisions of Stage 1 and Stage 2 for ₹1,525 crores out of approximately total requirement of ₹4,500 crores to ₹5,000 crores. So, for that purpose, I understand our current profit numbers are enough. Bank's CRAR is at 18.28%. Even though there are provisions, we can stagger it to 5 years or we can account it at once also, then only 80 basis points only impact we are expecting, and due to improvement in credit underwriting qualities and other improvement in credit monitoring mechanism, I am sure that the PD calculation for these numbers will be under control, and we'll be easily able to shift to ECL from 1st April '27.

What is your expectation for recovery and monetizing the recovery even from technical written-off books?

For technical written-off book, we are having ₹32,900 plus crores in the PT and 9,200-odd numbers in our normal books. So absolute numbers, for previous years are ₹1,300 crores, ₹1,400 crores, ₹1,700 crores and ₹2,100 crores, we have recovered out of technical written-off account. This year also, I'm expecting recovery of ₹2,200 crores to ₹2,500 crores out of technically written-off account. In major accounts, we are expecting ₹235 crores through OTS or liquidation or sale of property, another ₹200 crores we are expecting from NCLT, moreover ₹500 crores we are expecting from written-off account in this quarter. Apart from that, we are pursuing onetime settlement in eligible accounts and also auction of secured assets under SARFAESI Act. In first quarter, we have sold property and approved OTS in 121 cases out of 810 properties put on auction. In the current financial year, we are targeting to sell 600 to 700 properties against 460 properties in the last financial year. We are organizing property expos and utilizing services of property consultants so that visibility and marketability of properties get enhanced. In that way, I can assure you that from recovery side, this quarter, we are going to achieve the number.

The Board has approved raising up to around ₹7,000 crores to equity or BASEL III instrument. What is the expected timeline and preferred route for the capital raising?

We already have CRAR of 18.28% and CET1 of 16.24% In that way, we are having enough capital, and we don't need capital to support our growth guidance, which we have given to the market, we are having enough capital. So therefore, we don't have any plan for raising capital as of now.

The liquidity coverage ratio declined from 235% to 156% and also NSFR reduced from 147% to 128%, but both remain above regulatory requirements, but the fall is very sharp. Can you elaborate on it?

Actually, first, we should understand what the optimum level for LCR and NSFR is and purpose behind keeping it, high-quality liquid assets for this LCR. So, comfort of having 215% and having CD ratio of 66% or 64% for any vibrant organization and growing organization, it is liability because those high-quality liquid assets and all those things comes with a cost. Therefore, those things must be deployed optimally so that we can get better return out of it. Though the comfort Central Bank of India is having, our CD ratio has increased from 64% as of June '25 to 74% as of June '26, so we are utilizing all these resources available with us. That is a good sign to the market that, we are optimally utilizing our liquidity and still it is compared to other organization, you can see that LCR ranges between 130 and, we are still above that. As per risk management, whatever is the threshold level, we are still above those levels.

Advance grew has a strong 28% year-on-year ahead of the industry growth, which segments are driving this growth? And what safeguards are in place to ensure that credit rating standards are not diluted?

Actually, if you see, as of June '25, our corporate loan book was ₹76,699 crores and currently, as of June '26, it is ₹1,12,500 crores. So, the growth is 46.52% to be precise. This is only due to low base effect because having ₹76,966 crores and from there, we have grown to ₹1,12,770 crores. In RAM sector, if you see, our growth is 21.38%. Retail has grown by 23.94%, agriculture by 21%, MSME by 18%. In that way, we are not an outlier as we are having very small base, that's why it is looking that our growth is more than 28% and as far as credit underwriting is concerned, I can tell you, we have done one analysis that the credit growth after 1st October will be ₹1,22,000 crores. Out of that, stress was very less and the slippage ratio, it is 0.29% this time. And there is consistent improvement in slippage ratio. If we can reduce the agriculture KCC numbers, which got slipped i.e. ₹200 crores out of total ₹986 crores and ₹989 crore in previous year, June '25. So that agriculture side, ₹200 crores was the contributor. You know that debt waiver scheme is coming, and those things will get liquidated. If we remove those KCC numbers, then our slippage ratio is 0.19%. So, there is consistent improvement in underwriting quality, post-disbursement credit monitoring quality.

On the term deposit book, is there any further repricing left of the term deposits, which can help you reduce the cost of deposits going forward?

Term deposit almost is repriced now and 4.60% is the cost of deposit. But in growth side, if you want to know, term deposit has grown by 12% in our bank and majority are below ₹3 crores, means retail deposits. 85% of our deposits are under ₹3 crores segment.

On the FCNR deposits, how much have we mobilized thus far? And how much do you expect to mobilize till the scheme is available?

FCNR (B) till now, we have mobilized USD8.4 million and we are expecting to mobilize USD400 million by September'2026.

On ECLGS scheme, how much have you sanctioned thus far? And how much have you disbursed?

Total ECLGS 5.0 applications sanctioned is 34,824 of ₹4,646 crores and guarantee issued in 30,561 accounts of ₹4,353 crores out of which disbursement happened in 27,567 accounts of ₹3,693 crores.

Do you expect the overall yield to go up going forward?

Yes, overall yield will go upward because under RAM, we are focusing on gold loan and SHG. As, we are bringing some structural changes that is, Head of these 2 divisions are going to report directly to ED, under guidance of ED, they will work and our physical presence in South India and other upcoming sectors, where opportunities for these finances are huge. So the yield is also 8% plus, both in gold loan and SHG. So there, we expect that our yield will improve from 7.89% to anywhere between 8%, we are thinking that as of March '27, we will reach up to 8%.

These are all MCLR-linked loans on gold loans, or they are regular link?

Gold loan under agriculture is MCLR linked and under retail, it is non-MCLR linked.

Cost to income, you have given target of less than 56%. And we have been in past 3 years, we are around somewhere around 58%, 57%. So, what are additional steps we are taking this year to get it below 56%?

See, this is one of the efficiency areas, which is our priority, and we are working strategically on income and also cost curtailment. First of all, I will talk about the improvement in income, you see our interest income has increased significantly, and NII has grown by more than 15.70%. Now we are focusing upon non-interest income side, where we can maximize our fee-based income. Centralized forex cell is already opened and operationalized, we have also opened centralized BG cell and in these 2 areas, we are focusing upon our LC/BG business, where our own clients who are availing these services outside our bank, we are contacting them. We are bringing them in our fold organizing exporter meet in 3, 4 centres we have already organized and more we are going to organize, we have opened NRI cell, IFSC Unit in GIFT City which will also support us in ramping up this fee-based and other income. We also have Bancassurance business income from Central Generali Life Insurance and Non-Life Insurance and will bring improvement in this segment. As, previous year was establishment stage. Now they have been stabilized. This year, we are expecting good income from this business. Those are the opportunities available to us. One important intervention, we have opened marketing/sales department headed by General Manager under which we have opened, 35 customer acquisition centres and 9 government business centres. Through these department, we are going to play a big way for mobilizing this insurance business and LC/LG business through marketing officers and through the concept of 1,000 credit officers, we are placing them as relationship manager also for big corporates. In that way, we'll be able to garner better return and bring overall improvement in the income side. To our cost curtailment, we have identified different cost centres like from maintenance of cash retention balance, to how optimally, we can use our ATMs, our currency chest, also how we can actually see our proper utilization of land bank and assets, curtailment of expenditure under electricity, water, stationery in a structured format, respective departments following up and monitoring. We are sure that in coming year, Bank will reduce cost-to-income ratio by 1.5% to 1.6%.

Are we planning to launch any credit cards or other value-added services?

Bank is having 8.33 crores customer base. So therefore, we have got approval from Board for establishment of wealth management vertical, credit card vertical, NRI and marketing vertical. So, we are entering into credit card segment also. We have initiated the steps for establishing these segments, which is very much required for salary accounts and our mobilization of other businesses, some premium customers also. So, you are right in asking us that these segments also, we are entering in near future.

The credit growth for the quarter, it's only 2.85%. So going forward, in order to meet our performance and our kind of results which we give, how do you plan to increase our loan book in the remaining 3 quarters, traction, the sanction pipeline and the mix of corporate and RAM?

Growth is not a challenge for Central Bank of India now. We have enough capital. We have enough resources and the momentum and credit underwriting quality, post disbursement monitoring part, all these things we have taken care of. So that gives us enough confidence to grow at a faster rate. Resources are available, capital is available, systems and processes are in place, better oversight mechanisms are there, which is being reflected in maintaining asset quality, slippage. Therefore, Bank's aligning with the guidance, which Bank has given to the market i.e. deposit 11% to 12% and advances, 14% to 16%. Bank be able to maintain this growth rate, quarter-on-quarter growth will be approximately 3%. Bank is confident that, these things will be continued because Bank is getting good proposals in corporate credit and RAM sector also, as already informed, retail will grow by approximately 23.9%, Agriculture will grow by 21% and MSME will grow by 18% and now with the opening of gold and SHG cell, the vertical head will directly be reporting and under the guidance of Executive Director. This segment, we are finding good traction because our presence in South India, where these products are very popular, we are entering in those areas with proper branding and proper strategy. I am sure that yield will also improve as it has already improved, you have seen from our numbers. Yield will also improve, and numbers will also improve, both RAM segment and also corporate segment.

Some color on this ECLGS, how much is sanctioned and disbursed and how much total it will help in increasing our loan book?

ECLGS, total applications of ₹5800 crores was received on JanSamarth portal, within which we have sanctioned 34,824 eligible accounts, amount was ₹4,646 crores. And guarantee issued in the account of ₹30,561 crores, our amount is ₹4,353 crores, within which disbursement already done in 27,567 accounts, amount is ₹3,693 crores.

One old question on this recovery from that old aviation account. What is happening on that, whether substantial recovery has already taken place in the past 1, 1.5 years? Or are we expecting because that property sale was also there?

Bank received ₹515 crores as CGTMSE guarantee. And there is a parcel of land, we are putting it on auction. Again, in the month of August, we are going for fresh auction of this parcel of land.

Something on the progress on this our insurance acquisitions, Generali Central Life and Generali Non-Life. What is the progress there? And how much capital has so far additionally has been put in?

Banks has approximately 26% stake in both the entities. Generali Central Life Insurance and Generali Central Non-Life Insurance Company. Previous year, it was under establishment. Now they are back in the business and this year, we are expecting a good amount of income from both Life and Non-Life businesses. Bank has invested ₹627 crores capital in both the companies.