DBS’ goal is to be a universal bank with SME & retail focus: CEO Rajat Verma
Singapore’s banking major DBS has built a strong base for steady growth in India, CEO Rajat Verma said. The bank’s net profit increased 81% year-on-year to Rs684 crore in FY25.
Verma told Joel Rebello and Sangita Mehta that DBS would step up its retail and SME banking over the next few years, as these two segments would ultimately dominate its loan book, underpinned by growth prospects in gold loans and mortgages.
Edited excerpts:
The banking sector is buzzing with a lot of changes. RBI has also announced a slew of reforms. What are DBS’ plans amid all this?
Our goal is to be a universal bank. We have a decent corporate bank as we work with large companies. We have also started working a lot with medium-sized companies, and we are committed to lending in that space.
Our SME book has crossed Rs10,000 crore and will grow at 40% CAGR so that we are closer to a Rs13,000 crore book by FY26. It is an area where we have put in a lot of effort, and our ambitions here are broader and bigger, starting from funding micro-enterprises with an annual turnover of about Rs5 crore, going up to Rs600 crore. We have also seen a benign credit environment, which gives us confidence to underwrite credit.
How does the DBS India loan book look currently?
Our loan book is around Rs60,000 crore, and about one-fourth will be SME. Retail and SME books are about the same, and the corporate book is about 58%. In retail lending, we are keen to invest and expand the business. We have the team and the models in place, but a lot of work is ongoing. We expect retail and SME books to eventually become more than 50% of our loan book in India.
In retail, there is a lot of scope in Consumer Loans Against Property (CLAP), which is adjacent to the SME business, where we have had success; hence, we are quite bullish. We are very bullish on the gold loans business, not only for DBS Bank India but also as an industry, as the potential is massive. It is an essential product for this country, given the amount of gold in Indian households—an underutilised asset. There is large potential to unlock credit with gold loans, given the size of the market and acceptability of the product. Both these products are scalable and can spur entrepreneurship at the ground level and have lower default rates.
What are your plans for corporate loans?
Corporate loans are about 58%, which includes trade finance, project finance, and even real estate. In the past, we have said that retail and SME will be 25% each, and corporate will be about 50% of the book. We aim to do it in a risk-adjusted, return-adjusted manner, which means the corporate book will not be at 50%; it will be lower than that and not be as high as it is today. As markets evolve, corporates have other alternatives (to raise money), such as insurance companies. Therefore, corporate books will grow, but the other parts will grow faster.
What about the other parts of the business, like wealth management?
We have a wealth management product called Treasures. We are thinking of ways to strengthen that proposition. We are working on how to do more business with non-resident Indians and also wealthy Indians. International connectivity is going to be one of our themes — we have the ability to create products at a global level which can be replicated for India. In wealth management, we are a leading institutional player in Asia. We can create suitable products (for customers). It is also helpful in getting low-cost deposits. Corporate banking has always been there.
Are there any new products or initiatives there?
We continue to invest in our corporate banking business. We are ranked third in India’s league table in 2025 in terms of volume. We are also setting up a specialised team to bank startups in Bengaluru. This is a slightly different type of business because we cannot look at the standard parameters for lending. We call it the Digital Economy Group (DEG) internally. We will expand to other cities as well. These companies need different kinds of services, like support in setting up an overseas office—say in Singapore. So our services are not just to do with lending.
Many banks with deep pockets have doubled down investments in India. How do you see competition panning out? And how will you stay ahead?
India is one of our six core markets in DBS globally and is very important for us. It is a really large market with many pockets of opportunity. We have invested a lot of capital, and we have many pockets to productively use that capital. Some of the structural things that have happened in India are not an accident, like coming to under 2% of gross NPAs. The whole transparency, the rigour around it, the credit bureaus—it's not an accident. Structurally, one feels very comfortable.
As featured in The Economic Times
World’s Best Bank 2025, 2021, 2019, Euromoney
World’s Best Bank for Customer Experience 2025, Euromoney
World’s Best Bank for Corporate Responsibility 2025, 2023, Euromoney
Asia’s Safest Bank, 2009 – 2025, Global Finance
Best Bank in the World 2022, Global Finance
India’s Best International Bank 2021, Asiamoney
World’s Best Banks - #1 in India 2021, Forbes
World’s Safest Commercial Bank 2021, Global Finance
