Lucknow, Sep 7 (PTI) Axis Bank sees religious tourism, defence, and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as key areas of opportunity in Uttar Pradesh, its MD and CEO Amitabh Chaudhry said on Monday.

The emerging religious tourism corridor connecting Kashi, Prayagraj, Ayodhya, and the Mathura-Vrindavan region offers significant scope for the lender to expand its banking and technology solutions, Chaudhry said.

Chaudhry, who was in Lucknow to kick off the bank's 'Sparsh' initiative, said Uttar Pradesh's large market, improving connectivity and a government push for industrial and tourism-led growth made the state strategically important for the bank.

The 'Sparsh' initiative is aimed at bringing the bank's employees together and reinforcing a customer-centric approach, with emphasis on understanding customers' needs, resolving their problems in a timely manner and creating better service experiences, Chaudhry said.

"If I can be strong in UP, my ability to go and become bigger in some of the other states is easier because I am so strong," Chaudhry told PTI, describing Uttar Pradesh as a key market for Axis Bank.

He said the state was witnessing growth across sectors, including manufacturing, information technology, defence and tourism, while improved highways and connectivity were making it easier for businesses to establish operations in the state.

"Tourism has become so big here," Chaudhry said, pointing to the rise in footfall at Ayodhya and the emerging tourism corridor between Kashi, Prayagraj, and Ayodhya.

He also identified Mathura-Vrindavan as a major sector and said there were "a lot of these sectors coming up which can really take UP to the next level".

On the bank's opportunities in the religious tourism ecosystem, Chaudhry said Axis Bank was seeking to provide technology-led solutions to temples and religious establishments, with transparency and ease of transactions being key objectives.

"The biggest is religious tourism today, where we are very deeply invested," he said, adding that the bank was trying to capture the "entire temple ecosystem" through solutions focused on technology and transparency.

The bank already provides digital solutions at the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi, Chaudhry said. These include facilities related to donations, bookings and prasad, besides enabling donors to obtain certificates quickly.

According to a bank statement, Axis Bank's digital donation collection solutions are also being provided at Sri Hitkeli Kunj and ISKCON in Vrindavan and the Kashi Vishwanath Temple.

The major payment methods include kiosk payments, donations through Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS) and UPI payments through QR codes, the bank said.

Chaudhry said digital payments could make temple donations more transparent by sending funds directly to the trust's account while maintaining reconciliation and a digital record of transactions.

The bank is also in discussions with the Uttar Pradesh government on extending such solutions to more religious establishments across the state, particularly as the government looks at creating a centralised mechanism to manage temples, he told PTI.

Beyond religious tourism, Chaudhry identified defence as another major opportunity, with the state's defence corridor expected to help attract more units and create supporting industrial ecosystems.

The bank's Uttar Pradesh franchise had a deposit base of Rs 70,675 crore and gross advances of Rs 54,367 crore as of June 2026, the lender said. Its priority-sector lending advances stood at Rs 21,970 crore, while MSME advances were Rs 17,713 crore and agriculture and allied activities advances Rs 3,273 crore.

Axis Bank has a presence in all 75 districts of Uttar Pradesh, with 572 branches, 1,251 ATMs and cash recyclers and more than 12,740 village and urban-level entrepreneurs as of June 2026, the statement said.

Chaudhry said the bank was not looking at Uttar Pradesh merely as a market for conventional banking but also as a place where it could provide technology-based solutions to institutions and businesses.

The bank has already provided digital solutions to municipal corporations in the state, including a QR-code based system in Varanasi for payment of municipal dues and technology solutions in Aligarh to help assess property tax, Chaudhry said.

"We are trying to be relevant not just from a banking space, we are trying to be a technology and banking partner," he added. PTI KIS TRB