Indusind Bank To Operationalise Broking Arm Soon: MD Rajiv Anand

IndusInd Bank is in the process of operationalising its broking arm soon as part of its strategy to expand its product bouquet and enhance fee-based income.

Last month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) approved IndusInd Bank's proposal to set up a wholly-owned subsidiary to undertake stock broking business and infuse equity capital into the proposed broking subsidiary. "Approvals are in place... We would want to set up the broking outfit as soon as possible," IndusInd Bank MD and CEO Rajiv Anand told PTI in an interview.

Asked whether the bank would explore the inorganic route to expand its presence, Anand said, "The process of going inorganic or organic, those decisions will be made as we go along." He further said the difficult phase for the microfinance business is now behind the bank, with risks playing out favourably, and growth in the segment is expected to return from the second quarter onwards.

IndusInd Bank faced a severe governance and accounting crisis in 2025 centred around its microfinance subsidiary Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd (BFIL).

The bank reversed ₹674 crore of cumulative interest income recognised incorrectly across FY25. A further ₹172 crore was disclosed as fraud, where employees falsely reported the sum as fee income in the microfinance business. "We have had a fairly difficult time on our microfinance business. But it is all now behind us. Risk is playing out quite well at this point in time, and Q2 onwards, we should see growth come back in our microfinance businesses," he said.

The microfinance arm has a very successful business called Bharat Superstore, where it lends to kirana stores, small restaurants and other such businesses, he said. "That business is also doing well and continues to perform strongly. So, the entire microfinance and rural banking business that we have should show strong growth as we move into the second quarter and beyond," he added. "We needed to scale up our disbursements, which has now happened, and we are very confident that we should see growth from here," he said.

Asked about growth in microfinance portfolio in FY27, Anand said, "We think that this year, our microfinance business should grow somewhere between 15-20%." On the overall asset side, he said the growth will be broadly in line with the market for the current financial year. "Whatever the market is, I think currently the market is around 17-18%. We believe we will be in that vicinity," he said.