Central Bank of India to work on building its corporate loan portfolio, says Chief Kalyan Kumar

Kalyan Kumar, MD & CEO of Central Bank of India

Central Bank of India (CBoI) aims to adjust its loan portfolio composition, currently dominated by retail, agriculture, and MSME (RAM) segments, by expanding corporate lending activities.

As of September 2025, RAM advances constituted 71.5% of the bank’s ₹2,93,488 crore total advances, with corporate loans making up the remaining 28.5%.

MD & CEO Kalyan Kumar indicated the bank intends to shift toward a 65:35 ratio between RAM and corporate loans in its credit portfolio.

Highlighting the bank’s strong capital adequacy ratio of 17.34% as of September 2025, Kumar announced plans to hire approximately 1,000 credit officers during FY26 to bolster corporate lending capabilities.

“While RAM advances remain our core strength, we recognize the need to enhance our corporate lending operations. We’re building specialized teams and improving decision-making processes to assure corporate clients of responsive service,” Kumar stated during a recent analyst briefing.

The CEO acknowledged historical limitations in corporate lending growth, referencing the bank’s five-year placement under RBI’s Prompt Corrective Action framework starting June 2017, which concluded in September 2022 after addressing asset quality concerns.

Strategic Shift

Kumar emphasized that increased corporate lending is crucial for strengthening interest income, particularly given the current loan composition where approximately 60% of advances follow repo-linked pricing.

This structure creates margin pressure, as repo rate reductions immediately benefit borrowers while deposit rate adjustments lag. This dynamic contributed to the bank’s net interest margin declining from 3.41% in September 2024 to 2.89% a year later.

Published on October 26, 2025