• Banking system health: Indian scheduled commercial banks generated nearly 4 lakh crore in profit in FY24–25 and have sufficient capital, low NPLs, and strong provision coverage to support an estimated 15% credit growth on the 185 lakh crore base.
• MSME credit underwriting: Banks are increasingly turning to MSMEs using alternative data like GST returns, cash flows, and public infrastructure such as account aggregators and trade platforms like A-TreDS to achieve better risk-adjusted returns.
• Retail credit leverage: Retail credit-to-GDP in India sits at 45–47%, below levels in China and developed economies, though banks remain watchful of emerging macro and consumer risks tied to geopolitical conflicts and AI-driven job disruptions.
• Branch format evolution: Axis Bank continues opening 400 to 500 branches annually while piloting compact 150-square-foot single-desk setups for sales and exploring dedicated locker-only branches to match customer requirements.
• FinTech collaboration: Axis Bank serves as the primary bank for 80% of Indian unicorns and FinTechs and handles substantial payment volumes (40% of NEFT, 30% of IMPS), balancing direct partnerships with building agile internal FinTech-like capabilities.