HDFC Bank Ltd., India’s largest private lender, plans to double the amount of loans it makes to retail borrowers over the next couple years as consumer demand ramps up from a pandemic-induced slowdown.

Uncertainty is declining and demand is improving as businesses seek to bolster growth after COVID-19, Arvind Kapil, the bank’s country head for retail assets, said in an interview. It’s an opportunity to reverse the declining share of loans to this segment of the market that was needed to preserve asset quality, he said.

“We are planning to double our retail assets book in a focused manner,” Kapil said. “I can sense a robust demand at ground level. I run businesses and I am giving you a feel of what I see.”

Of the bank’s total 11.5 trillion rupees (US$156 billion) loan book, Kapil is in charge of retail borrowing worth 3.7 trillion rupees, which is expected to reach almost 8 trillion rupees within the next two years.

If successful, that would mark a sharp turnaround from its strategy a year ago when the bank slowed down its retail lending to protect its asset quality as the pandemic led to millions of job losses and businesses closures.(SD-Agencies)