I don't believe in the possibility of capital not coming in: Ravneet Gill, YES Bank

The runway for growth for private sector banks is huge, says Ravneet Gill, MD & CEO, YES Bank. Excerpts from a chat with Abha Bakaya of ETNOW as part of a panel discussion at the Times Network's India Economic Conclave.


Where do you find motivation, given the situation? You are living on a razor’s edge on a day-to-day basis. Where do you find the strength to keep going given that you have entered this situation and it is not something of your own creation?
It comes out of the conviction I have in the future of the bank. It is a fantastic platform, countrywide presence, big brand, people who are second to none, great technology, great product innovation, very good client connectivity and I think if you take those for granted, then the troubles also you should take for granted. So if I look at it in balance, I feel absolutely super convinced about the future of the institution and that is where I derive my motivation from.


We have been asking all the big bankers from SBI to Axis to Kotak if they are looking to acquire YES Bank or a part of YES Bank, Is there anything we need to know?
May be something that I need to know because I can see a lot of idle speculation. Every media house wrote to me asking, if there was any truth to these rumours. I will just say this is idle speculation and nothing else.

What is the worst and best case scenario? If you do manage to raise funds by the end of the year or whenever is the next deadline, what happens next? How do you see the road to recovery? Also, if you do not raise funds then, what happens? Is it the end of the road?
No. If you see the last three quarters, we have indicated the ability to be able to accrete capital organically. We have been able to down sell our assets and generate capital from that. We have shown that we are very good test players as well. We take the singles and keep things going. So I do not see the end of the road. First and foremost, the possibility that the capital does not come in is something I do not believe in.

If you had to invest in financial services anywhere in the world, give me one opportunity which is more attractive than the private sector banking space within India. Out of all the large economies, this is the most under-penetrated from the credit standpoint.

With the dislocation that has happened in the NBFC sector and with the public sector banks having their set of challenges, the runway for growth for private sector banks is huge. The only way I look at is that as soon as capital comes in, not only is the runway for growth tremendous, but also in this environment, we will be able to pick and choose our spots where we want to grow. It will be very calibrated growth. There is no question of throwing caution to the winds and growing indiscriminately but the opportunity is huge. Just as we see that opportunity, so do investors. It is a question of time before we have capital.