Indian Bank’s Mahesh Jain joins to head IDBI

MUMBAI, Apr 4: NPA-laden public sector lender IDBI Bank today said Mahesh Kumar Jain assumed charge as its new managing director and chief executive.
Prior to this, Jain, who assumed charge yesterday, was heading the Chennai-based Indian Bank since November 2015.
Jain, who has been credited for turning around Indian Bank, has swapped position with IDBI Bank’s chief Kishore Kharat, who has now moved to Indian Bank.
The move is part of the government effort to help turnaround the city-based lender which has been grappling with mounting debt.
In fiscal 2016 the bank had reported a net loss of Rs 3,665 crore, the biggest in the system, in the first quarters of fiscal 2017 it has reported a net loss of Rs 1,958 crore.
The bank reported a massive 15.2 per cent or Rs 35,245 crore of NPAs in the first three quarters of the just concluded financial year, up from 11 per cent or Rs 24,875 crore in the previous year. In 2014-15 the bank had reported a net profit of 873 crore. Its NPA levels are the highest in the industry.
The bank has also seen decline profits on a sequential basis — Rs 2,031 crore in 2011-12, to Rs 1,882 crore and Rs 1,121 crore in 2012-13 and 2013-14, it said.
The decline in profits of IDBI Bank could be attributed to increase in gross NPAs, loan write-offs and poor financial results.
IDBI Bank has largest presence in joint lending and a has critical role in many corporate debt revamp proposals.
Under Jain Indian Bank, which had been struggling for long, saw an exponential growth. Under his leadership, its net profit rose to Rs 373.48 crore in the December 2016 quarter from Rs 42.30 crore a year ago. Gross NPAs to gross advances ratio stood at 7.69 per cent from 7.28 per cent during the same period. (PTI)