Syndicate Bank net profit up 17 per cent in Q2

New Delhi, Oct 30 (UNI) Syndicate Bank today declared a net profit of Rs 205 crore for Q2 of 2006-07, which is higher by 17 per cent when compared to the same period last year.

The Manipal-based Public Sector Bank had recorded a net profit of Rs 175 crores in Q2 of 2005-06.

Addressing a Press Conference here to declare the Q2 results, Chairman and Managing Director of Syndicate Bank C Swarnkar said Operating profit of Q2 of 2006-07 recorded an impressive growth of 40 per cent to Rs 303 crore, compared to Rs 216 crore reported in Q2 of 2005-06.

The net profit of the Bank for the half year ended September 30, 2006, stood at Rs 386 crore, a growth rate of 14 per cent over Rs 338 crore recorded for the second corresponding period of the previous year, despite a provisioning of Rs 50 crores towards the NPAs.

The operating profit for the half year of 2006-07 stood at Rs 605 crore, compared to Rs 508 crore for the half year of 2005-06, thus registering a growth of 19 per cent.

Mr Swarnakar said most of the profit of the Bank came from interest income and not from trading in equities or treasury operations.

The net interest income for the half year of the current fiscal stood at Rs 990 crores as against Rs 952 crore for the half year of previous year. The hardening of interest rates and non-avilability of interest on balance maintained with RBI have affected the growth of this financial parametre.

The following are the other important features of Q2 results; ---- deposits in Q2 grew by 11 per cent from Rs 63,626 crore to Rs 71,065 crore. Substantial growth in deposits has provided sufficient liquidity to the Bank. This will facilitate the credit expansion plan of the Bank in the coming quarters; --- credit growth during Q2 registered a growth rate of 12 per cent with a figure of Rs 4954 crore; --- The credit to deposit ratio as on September 30, 2006, stood at 65 per cent as against 66 per cent as on September, 2005. This is essentially on account of high growth of deposits; --- growth in business in Q2 was of the order of Rs 12,090 crores, and the growth rate in this regard is 11 per cent; -- Net NPA's down to 0.89 per cent as on September 2006 from 1.44 per cent as on September, 2005; --- Gross NPAs came down to 3.67 per cent as on September 30,2006 from 4.68 per cent as of September 2005; --- CRAR stood at 11.74 per cent on September 30,2006; Mr Swarnkar said the Bank has no immediate plans to raise capital from the market and would carry out Bank expansion in a normal way adding 100 to 150 branches every year. The Bank has a large network with over 2,000 branches all over the country and 492 ATMs.

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