Why a PSU bank wants to start raising bets on corporate loans
State-owned Central Bank of India is looking to change its loan book mix by stepping up corporate lending, even as retail, agriculture and MSME (RAM) segments remain its core strength, managing director Kalyan Kumar told Mint in an interview.As of September 2025, nearly 72% of the bank’s ₹2.93 trillion loan book was tilted towards RAM, with corporates accounting for just 28%. Kumar plans to change this mix to 65:35 by March 2026, without diluting the lender’s core focus on its rural and semi-urban franchise.Barely weeks after taking charge on 30 September, Kumar said that, “RAM will always remain our priority.
That is the strength of this organisation.” However, the shift towards corporates is driven by both risk diversification and the quality of proposals received.The current corporate book stands over ₹83,000 crore, leaving significant headroom for growth, he said.The bank is selectively targeting sectors such as renewable energy, power transmission, roads and infrastructure, as well as hospitality projects, including hotels. For FY26, fresh loan sanctions are ₹1.21 trillion and around ₹85,000 crore to ₹1 trillion in the pipeline, he said.After muted private capital expenditure, SBI Capital Markets expects light corporate balance sheets, moderate spreads, and stable government bond yields to provide the ‘necessary ingredients’ for private capex to trickle in.According to a Mint analysis of data from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) today, the pace of cash accumulation hit an eight-year low by September.The analysis of CMIE data for a common sample of nearly 2,000 listed firms, excluding BFSI companies, revealed that cash and bank balances increased by just 1% year-on-year to about ₹5.4 trillion by
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