Sumant Kathpalia, MD & CEO of IndusInd Bank on Monday said that they remain cautious due to uncertain outlook caused by second wave of COVID.

“We continue to remain cautious and we have carried Rs 1,600 crore of excess provision. In my opinion, the bus operator segment is something which we have been operating for last 18 years. They are very good customers, and I believe they are going through troubled times, but I think they will bounce back as soon as the economy revives,” he said in an interview to CNBC-TV18.

He said that they are not expecting a nation lockdown, but if the second wave of COVID plays out for long, we have made a recommendation for extension of the restructuring scheme by a year or so.

The bank on Friday reported a 193 percent jump in consolidated profit after tax at Rs 926 crore for the March quarter, aided by higher net interest income and lower provisions. On a standalone basis, the lender reported a net profit of Rs 875.95 in the quarter ended March compared to Rs 301.84 crore in the year-ago period.

According to Kathpalia, IndusInd Bank will continue to gain market share in the vehicle finance, microfinance, as well as gems and jewellery segment. “If you look at 3 domains of our business, the vehicle finance, microfinance, as well as the gems and jewellery, they outperform the market and they are growing much faster than the market. We are gaining market share there. If you look at our commercial vehicle segment, the vehicle finance segment grew 30 percent year-on-year (YoY) as far as disbursements are concerned. In commercial vehicle, we grew 40 percent YoY. We have 12-14 percent market share in these segments and we will continue to maintain or maybe grow market share in these segments,” he said.

He said that there is enough demand on large as well as the mid-corporate book, but it is the MSME growth where they remain cautious. “If you look at our growth in the MSME segment, it has not been much and we continue to be cautious on this segment,” he said.

Watch the video for the detailed interview

(Edited by : Abhishek Jha)