State-owned Bank of Baroda is aiming to grow its ₹4.56 lakh crore corporate book by 10 per cent in FY27, and has pegged the current pipeline of such big-ticket lending at ₹50,000 crore.

Amid worries on sluggish private capex growth, its managing director and chief executive Debadatta Chand said nearly two-thirds of the proposals continue to be for term loans and the rest is for working capital, suggesting a good demand for investment purposes.

On the telecom sector loans, where there is intense speculation on Vodafone Idea's next moves as part of the revival process, Chand said right policy measures and coming together of banks and other stakeholders can result in new loans.

"Our overall pipeline is Rs 50,000 crore at present. Half of it is sanctioned and yet to be disbursed while the remaining is loan proposals under discussions," Chand told PTI.

He said there is a strong demand from the renewable power and also core sectors like steel and cement for capacity building.

In order to ensure that net interest margins come in the 2.75-2.95 per cent range, the bank will take measures like realigning the corporate portfolio towards the external benchmark-based lending rate, where it hopes the hardening of yields in the g-sec market will help it make better spreads.

Chand said the bank will have to work on yield on advances as it does not see any reprieve from the cost of deposits in the current situation.

The bank will continue to look for funding beyond deposits as well in order to take care of liabilities, Chand said, adding that the current base is sufficient to take care of the requirements.

He said the credit deposit ratio for the bank has always been elevated when compared with state-run peers, and added that it is comfortable operating with the CD ratio in the 81-83 per cent range.

From an asset quality perspective, he said the bank does not have any concerns in its micro, small land medium enterprises portfolio and added that the government-initiated ECLGS scheme will help borrowers.

The floating provision of ₹1,500 crore made in the March quarter has not been made for expected credit loss (ECL) system, Chand said, asserting that its current buffers are sufficient to take care of the requirements that will come by way of the transition.

Published on May 11, 2026