Best Banks 2016

Banker of the Year: SBI
Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman, State Bank of India

"The bank will begin to look different in a year or so. In the next 12 to 18 months, you will see us doing lot more deliveries in the areas of artificial intelligence and robotics," says Bhattacharya.

Bank of the Year: HDFC Bank
Aditya Puri, MD, HDFC BANK

"I will not try and grow size for the sake of growing size. Our size will grow because the demand for our products is growing," says Puri.

Best mid-sized bank: YES Bank
Rana Kapoor, Founder and CEO

"By 2020, we plan to achieve CASA ratio of over 40 per cent, granular deposits of 75 per cent, retail and business banking advances mix of 45 per cent and 3 per cent market share in the industry," says Kapoor.

Fastest Growing Mid-Sized Bank: Kotak Mahindra Bank
Uday Kotak, Managing Director
However, of late, it has faced some merger pangs following the acquisition of ING Vysya Bank last September. In the past two years, it has also acquired Pinebridge Mutual Fund and BSS Microfinance, and believes as long as acquisitions add value; it is ready to consider opportunities.

Best Small Bank: Karur Vysya Bank
K. Venkataraman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer

"The bank has been focusing mainly on SMEs and retail financing in its 100 years of existence. We recently added the agriculture sector to this mix to broad-base growth," said Venkataraman.

Fastest Growing Small Bank: RBL Bank
Vishwavir Ahuja, MD and CEO

"It expanded its reach through business correspondents and complimented this with technology. Today, it is riding the trends in financial inclusion, agriculture banking, and payment/remittance, services, embassy banking and trust banking," says Ahuja.

Best Foreign Bank: Barclays Bank
Jaideep Khanna, CEO, Barclays India

"Growing our top line was no doubt critical, but we have done so while maintaining a close watch on our costs. During the year, even as our revenues grew, our operating expenses declined," says Khanna.

Fastest Growing Large Foreign Bank:  BNP Paribas
Joris Dierckx, CEO and Country Head-India, BNP Paribas

The bank's thrust on wholesale banking has paid off and by 2015/16 its deposits had grown over four times to Rs 22,087 crore while balance sheet size (or assets) rose by over three times to Rs 36,761 crore. It makes BNP the fastest growing foreign bank in India.

Chandrasekhar Ghosh, CEO & MD, Bandhan Bank
"I realised that the only way to bring down (lending) rates was to get cheaper funds ... that is why we applied for a universal bank licence,"  says Ghosh.

Best Digital Bank: Axis Bank
Rajiv Anand, Group Executive and Head of Retail, Banking, Axis Bank

"Digital experiences and technology are changing very fast. You have the option of building (expertise) on your own or use the route of collaboration," says Anand.