Axis Bank warns of slowing of collections in coming weeks amid COVID-19 second wave

Axis Bank Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Chaudhry has recently said that the bank expects the collections to slow in the coming weeks as COVID-19 infections continue to rise across the country, affecting the movement of executives on the ground. “These are early days, but we do see an immediate business impact across segments,” Chaudhry remarked. He also stated that that corporates are adopting a wait-and-watch strategy and given the sudden surge, the focus is on employee health and safety.

Axis Bank’s advances including targeted long-term repo operations (TLTRO) investments grew 12% year-on-year (y-o-y) to Rs. 6.41 trillion. Its deposits rose 10.5% y-o-y to Rs. 7.07 trillion.

India is in the midst of a raging pandemic that has returned with renewed vigour and is infecting people at an alarming rate. States such as Maharashtra and Delhi have announced restrictions on movement to curb the spread, but could end up hurting economic recovery, the experts foresee.

RBI also had recently warned in an article of inflationary pressures emanating from any delay in containing the spread of the Corona Virus.

“We have not seen any slowdown in early bucket collections, but it is likely to get impacted in the coming weeks because people are not able to meet customers,” Chaudhry commented, adding that despite challenges, such situations do provide opportunities and the bank would like to grow in its focus segments.