HDFC Bank to hire 500 more relationship managers to expand MSME coverage

• The bank's MSME vertical currently covers 545 districts with dedicated relationship managers and supervisors

• The headcount addition will take the MSME vertical strength to 2,500

HDFC Bank is will be hiring 500 relationship managers this fiscal as the bank is planning to expand its MSME vertical to 575 districts, a PTI report said quoting a senior official. The headcount addition will take the MSME vertical strength to 2,500.

The bank's MSME vertical currently covers 545 districts now with dedicated relationship managers and supervisors. This will be expanded to 575 districts or more by the end of this fiscal.

"As we are expanding our MSME footprint to 575 districts from 545 now, we are hiring over 500 more to the 2,000-strong headcount at the MSME vertical this fiscal year. This should take the overall headcount at the vertical to a little over 2,500," Sumant Rampal, senior executive vice-president for business banking & healthcare finance, told PTI on Monday.

The government recently asked MSMEs to be re/de-classify themselves based on their turnover and get a Udhyam registration certificate.

After reclassification and the resultant tagging of wholesaler and retailer loans under the MSME book, the bank closed the MSME book at ?2,01,833 crore in March 2021 quarter, marginally up from ?2,01,758 crore in December 2020, when it grew by over 30 per cent.

Rampal said, "The bank has been increasing its focus on the sector since the past two years, and the same only increased since the pandemic when the government opened a slew of measures to help small businesses tide over the crisis with the emergency credit line guarantee scheme (ECLGS) being the biggest booster helping it disburse 30 per cent more loans by December 2020, to ?2,01,758 crore."

He added, His team has already identified the districts for expansion. Though the bank has regular branches in these identified districts, MSME lending needs special focus based on their unique needs.

He said of the over 5,500 branches, a little over 1,800 of them have more than 25 per cent of their loans coming in MSME accounts and 4,800 of them service this segment of customers.