Indian Bank aims to recover ₹5,500 from bad loans during FY27: MD Binod Kumar

Indian Bank, a public‑sector lender, plans to recover as much as ₹5,500 crore from non‑performing loans in the ongoing fiscal year.

“We recovered ₹1,885 crore in Q1 and aim to collect between ₹4,500 crore and ₹5,500 crore from bad‑loan recoveries by FY27,” said MD & CEO Binod Kumar to PTI in an interview.

Of that amount, the Chennai‑based bank expects to realise around ₹500 crore this financial year from cases pending before the NCLT.

When asked about the foreign‑currency deposit drive launched last month, he noted that the bank has already gathered $140 million as of July 9.

“Our target is to mobilise roughly $2 billion in FCNR (B) deposits by September. It may look ambitious, but we already have a pipeline of about $1 billion,” he added.

Currently, Indian Bank offers FCNR (B) deposit rates ranging from 5.5 % to 6.5 %, varying with tenor and deposit size.

To encourage NRIs, OCIs and PIOs to place foreign‑currency funds, the RBI lifted, until September 30, the interest‑rate cap on fresh FCNR (B) deposits with maturities of 3‑5 years.

The decision follows a sharp decline in FCNR(B) inflows, which fell to just $946 million in FY26 from $7.1 billion in FY25.

The RBI had introduced comparable measures back in 2013 when dollar outflows surged after the taper‑tantrum episode.

Discussing the bank’s low‑cost deposit initiatives, Kumar said CASA balances grew 15.3 % in the first quarter.

CASA deposits rose to ₹3,19,525 crore at quarter‑end from ₹2,77,116 crore at the end of June 2025, pushing the CASA share of total deposits to 39.73 %.

The bank is pursuing several steps to push CASA to 40 % of total deposits this year, he explained.

Average savings‑account balances have more than doubled to ₹53,000, while current‑account averages improved from ₹1.36 lakh to ₹1.90 lakh, he said.

Additionally, the bank reactivated 1.7 million dormant accounts in the June quarter, adding ₹1,469 crore to savings balances.

Published on July 12, 2026