DBS India Sees Strong Growth, Focuses on Retail and SME Loans

Singapore's banking giant DBS has established a solid foundation for consistent growth in India five years after acquiring the troubled Lakshmi Vilas Bank, according to CEO Rajat Verma.

In FY25, the bank's net profit climbed 81% year over year to Rs 684 crore. Verma informed Joel Rebello and Sangita Mehta that DBS would increase its retail and SME banking over the next years since these two business categories would eventually account for the majority of its loan book, supported by growth potential in mortgages and gold loans.

Being a universal bank is our aim. Since we deal with big businesses, we have a respectable corporate bank. We are dedicated to financing to medium-sized businesses, and we have begun collaborating extensively with them. Our SME book has surpassed Rs 10,000 crore and is expected to reach Rs 13,000 crore by FY26, growing at a 40% CAGR.

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We have worked hard in this field, and our goals are more expansive, ranging from providing capital to microbusinesses with yearly sales of roughly Rs 5 crore to Rs 600 crore.  We are confident in our ability to underwrite credit since we have observed a benign credit climate.

About one-fourth of our loan book, which totals about Rs 60,000 crore, will be for SMEs. The corporate book is roughly 58%, while the retail and SME books are roughly equal. We are eager to make investments and grow the retail lending industry.

Although the team and models are in place, there is still plenty to be done. We anticipate that over 50% of our loan books in India will eventually be retail and SME accounts.