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Private sector capital expenditure is gradually picking up across key sectors, including steel, chemicals, petroleum, renewable energy and emerging areas such as data centres and shipbuilding, Punjab National Bank (PNB) Executive Director Amit Kumar Srivastava said, expressing confidence in the bank's corporate loan pipeline.
Speaking exclusively to ANI, Srivastava said the bank currently has a credit pipeline of around Rs 1.37 lakh crore, supported by improving demand for corporate loans. "As far as the corporate part is concerned... private capex is taking place slowly and slowly. Majority of that has come in the steel sector... chemical... petroleum and gas... renewable energy part, Infra road," he said. He added that new-age sectors are also contributing to demand. "Some of the emerging sectors... like data centre... transmission lines, and the shipbuilding. These two-three fields are also basically taking place," he said. On the bank's growth strategy, Srivastava said PNB continues to focus on the retail, agriculture and MSME (RAM) segments, which have been growing faster than corporate lending. "The bank is basically focusing on RAM sector itself... retail, agriculture and MSME. Retail, we have grown more than 17 per cent. MSME, we have grown more than 20 per cent. Agri, we have grown more than 16 per cent. As far as the corporate part is concerned, we have grown by 10 per cent," he said. He also said the bank is not witnessing any stress from the ongoing geopolitical situation in West Asia. On concerns around rising unsecured retail loans, Srivastava said PNB's underwriting standards and customer profile have helped keep asset quality stable. "We are not seeing much of the strain... whatever the personal loan that we are giving... they are basically the salaried accounts and they are having the salary account with us only," he said. Commenting on credit card loans, he said spending continues to rise alongside consumer demand, but delinquency remains under control. "As far as the delinquency part is concerned, I am not observing here at our bank," he said. Explaining the rise in provisions during the June quarter despite lower bad loans, Srivastava said the bank made an additional prudent provision of Rs 390 crore voluntarily. "If you notice that there is one part that Rs 390 crore extra provision we have made. That was not required as far as the normal banking guidelines are concerned... on the prudence basis... to take care of the coming ECL guidelines," he said. On the interest rate outlook, Srivastava said, "As far as the present situation is concerned, I do not think RBI is going to raise the interest rate in the coming policy in August. A status quo will be maintained," adding that it was "too early to comment" on the December policy review. (ANI)
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