Rajiv Lall to be IDFC Bank Managing Director and CEO

Mumbai: Infrastructure finance company IDFC, which recently received an in-principle banking licence from the Reserve Bank of India, on Wednesday said that its current chairman Rajiv Lall will be heading the lender as managing director.

"Subject to RBI approval, Rajiv Lall will be the managing director and chief executive of IDFC Bank," group chief financial officer Sunil Kakar told reporters in Mumbai.

He said the bank is expected to become operational by October 2015.

The demerger of IDFC and IDFC Bank is likely to be completed within next 6-9 months, Mr Kakar said.

Talking about foreign shareholdings in the parent, IDFC managing director and chief executive Vikram Limaye said, "3.7-4 per cent dilution will be needed to bring the ownership of foreigners to below 50 per cent if it does not come down naturally."

He said IDFC will look at some domestic players to pare the holdings.

Meanwhile, IDFC reported a 12.7 per cent fall in standalone net profit at Rs 449.07 crore for the June quarter as against Rs 514.54 crore in the year-ago period.

On a consolidated basis, the IDFC Group posted a net profit of Rs 481.74 crore during the period as against Rs 557.31 crore a year ago.

Total income decreased from Rs 2,138.53 crore to Rs 2,039.17 crore in the June quarter.

There was a 23 per cent decline in gross disbursements during the reporting period to Rs 2,463 crore.

Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) were stable at 0.6 per cent. When asked about the RBI circular on allowing banks to raise long-term bonds, Mr Limaye said IDFC has sought further clarity on how it will be applicable from now to October 2015 as it is in the process to turn into a bank.