
DBS Bank India targets ‘mass affluent’ customers in pivot to universal banking
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. DBS Bank India is looking to target India's rising ‘mass affluent’ base to become a true universal bank and stand out among its peers, who largely cater to companies and the super-rich, CEO Rajat Verma told Mint in an interview. Mass affluent refers to individuals who earn significantly more than the average consumer at around ₹30 lakh a year, but haven't yet reached ‘high-net-worth’ status.
Verma said the bank’s pivot to a universal banking model is already underway, having seen broad-based growth across its institutional, small business, retail and wealth verticals in 2025. It will look to maintain this growth across all key businesses in 2026 while focusing on select products and sub-segments, he added. He joined the bank in 2023 to head the institutional banking business and became its chief executive in 2025.
The Indian arm of the Singaporean lender is one of just two foreign banks that have local subsidiaries, the other being SBM Bank India. Other foreign banks operate through the branch banking model and do not have a wholly owned arm in India. However, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) allowed two others—Emirates NBD Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC)—to operate a wholly owned arms in India, in May 2025 and January 2026, respectively.
Verma said the bank’s Indian arm is looking to leverage the strengths of the mass affluent segment and invest more to scale the business. “There is a lot of potential among the young, upwardly mobile society… you would expect their wealth to grow," Verma said. “We have the propositions, we have the teams, too, and the human capability to tackle it." Verma said the bank recently launched a premium tier called Aspire, which requires
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