Digitally versatile: Bank of Baroda's big digitisation push

Breaking the stereotype of public sector banks that usually have a very clunky digital presence, Bank of Baroda (BoB) has cast a wide net in the digital ecosystem. This Mumbai-based bank has over 18 fintech collaborations and provides over 100 digital interfaces to give borrowers a smooth banking experience. And the stats bear it out. The bank sanctioned loans worth Rs 37,000 crore in FY22 through its digital lending platform. And now, the platform is used to source 84 per cent of its retail loan volume.

BoB claims that digital lending has helped it achieve a lead-to-conversion ratio of 29 per cent for retail loans, while it has now set its eyes on disbursing Rs 75,000 crore through the digital lending platform in FY23. “We have a disproportionate share in digital. We have a natural market share of 6 per cent. But in digital, it is about 12 per cent,” says Akhil Handa, Chief Digital Officer of the bank. And it is this success in digital transformation that has led the jury of the BT-KPMG Best Banks and Fintechs Survey 2021-22 to confer the Best Bank in Fintech Initiative award on it.

BoB’s customer-facing interface is through its app called ‘bob World’, a financial super-app that enables not only banking but also investing and shopping. The bank also has tie-ups with e-commerce platforms. With such versatile digital offerings, the number of active users on its digital channels doubled to nearly 20 million in FY22.

The bank also has a digital platform to facilitate co-lending with NBFCs. This platform simplifies and accelerates the co-lending process in segments like retail, MSME and agri while also performing credit assessment checks.

BoB is also in the process of widening its digital offerings to pre-approved loans for two-wheelers, auto, education and home along with home-loan top-ups and renewal of small-ticket MSME loans. “Overall, we are going to increase personal loans substantially, because historically it was not a focus area. Similarly, we are working on eight new product lines in the broader retail lending category. We will do top-up loans in a fully digital way… and expand the pre-approved product lines,” says Handa.

Now, people can also apply for a digital personal loan by giving their consent to share their financial data with the bank through the account aggregator (AA) platform, where BoB has recently gone live. Following personal loans, other lending products will also be integrated with the AA ecosystem soon.

@teena_kaushal