India's Dena Bank to restructure SME loans

Dena Bank announced it will work out a loan restructuring package for SMEs.

"We will evaluate the scheme for the SME and provide financial support to those entrepreneurs whose projects are viable but are facing financial difficulties," said Ashwani Kumar, the designated chairman and managing director at Dena Bank.

"My ambition is to retain the top position that we lost in transit. This can be done by accelerating lending, but with caution," he said.

State-run lenders, including Dena, are witnessing stress at the clients' end with the economic growth slumping to about 5.3% from as high as 9% before the 2008 credit crisis. Many businesses have become unviable and regulatory constraints have led to many other projects getting stuck midway.

This has led to rising defaults and calls for easier terms for loan repayment.

Kumar, who succeeds Nupur Mitra for a five-year term, plans to make better use of technology to improve customer service. On technology, he said that the thrust would be on converting alternate channels into mainstream channels. Alternate banking channels include transaction done through mobile, ATM and internet.

"The focus would be to provide convenience in banking and on how to improve service and ensure that visits to the branches are reduced," explained Kumar.

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