State-owned Punjab National Bank (PNB) is aiming to expand its lending to the RAM segment—comprising Retail, Agriculture, and MSMEs—to 58 per cent of its total loan book in the current financial year, up from 56 per cent in FY25, according to Managing Director and CEO Ashok Chandra.The bank ended FY25 with RAM segment loans standing at Rs 6,02,682 crore, accounting for 56 per cent of its total advances. The planned increase in RAM exposure, Chandra said, will help cushion the bank against margin pressure arising from rate cuts in corporate and repo-linked lending rate (RLLR) portfolios, according to news agency PTI.“We are planning to increase RAM from 56 per cent to 58 per cent in this financial year because that will give me the cushion against loss which is happening due to reduction in the interest rate in the corporate and the RLLR loan book,” Chandra told PTI in an interview.He added that the expected volume growth in RAM lending will help offset income loss resulting from potential interest rate cuts.Highlighting the bank’s strategy, Chandra said PNB conducted nationwide outreach drives in February to boost retail and MSME lending, which yielded significant results.“Whatever our average monthly book was there in the entire financial year, almost 1.5 times extra has been done in March due to outreach initiatives. This activity we are going to continue during this financial year as well,” he said.To further strengthen MSME lending, Chandra said the bank has rolled out a cash flow-based digital lending facility for loans up to Rs 25 lakh.“Anybody can go to our website and apply for an MSME loan by submitting a few details. Through the account aggregator and fintech in place, we are going to give the sanction to our existing customers within 5–7 minutes,” he said.On the retail side, Chandra revealed that PNB is working on forming partnerships with housing projects across the country to streamline home loan processing.“We are going in a massive way for approving their projects, so that once the project approval is there, and if any applicant is applying for a housing loan for that particular project, they need not go for the separate legal opinion or valuation,” he said.This initiative, he noted, will significantly reduce turnaround time.“We can minimise the time and if anybody applies for the approved project, we are going to ensure that within 48 to 72 hours we should be in a position to give the sanction,” Chandra added.
