ON A FAST TRACK
Dhanlaxmi Bank Fastest-Growing Small Bank
One of India’ oldest private banks, Kerala-based Dhanlaxmi Bank, faced legacy issues, management change and modernisation pangs in the last decade. It pressed through changes after outsider CEO Amitabh Chaturvedi and a new board took charge. When the economy went into a downturn in 2012, it halted branch expansion, hurting the loan book. Chaturvedi left around the same time. The bank was in losses from 2011/12 till 2015/16, barring a small profit in
2012/13.
Its fortune eroded in the south after the name change from Dhanalakshmi Bank to Dhanlaxmi Bank – an attempt to become acceptable to customers in North India.
The bank showed signs of recovery in 2016/17, with net profit of ` 12.38 crore against net loss of
` 209.45 crore in
2015/16. Gross nonperforming assets (NPAs) stood at 4.78 per cent of gross advances as on March
31, 2017, compared to
6.36 per cent a year back. Net NPAs went slightly down to
2.58 per cent.
In the first half of this fiscal, it recorded a net profit of ` 14.03 crore, up 19.4 per cent, thanks to reduced expenditure and rise in net interest margin. Operating profit improved 26.93 per cent. The bank detailed earlier that its thrust areas will be retail loans, NPA recovery, low-cost deposits and other income in this financial year.