Central Bank Expects 25% Growth In Its Home Loan Segment

October 15, 2009: Public sector lender, Central Bank of India, expects its home loan segment to grow by 25 per cent in the current fiscal, which would widen the portfolio size to Rs 10,000-crore, a top official said. "We are looking at a home loan growth of about 25 per cent this year. Approximately, it (the home loan portfolio) is Rs 8,000-crore. After the 25 per cent growth, it will be another Rs 2,000-crore," Central Bank of India's Chairman and Managing Director, S Sridhar, told reporters here.

The bank's home loan portfolio currently constitutes around eight per cent of its total loan portfolio. "We expect that to go up to 9-9.5 per cent by end of this fiscal," Sridhar said. The bank plans to push retail operations in the segment and is presently strengthening its back-end systems. "Our home loan retail push will start after a couple of months when we have get our systems ready, because we are putting up centralised retail asset processing centres. Real growth in retail will take place next year," he said. Sridhar said the bank was looking to increase its CASA (current account, savings account) size.