UCO Bank records 13.29 per cent growth in net profit in six months

Kolkata, Oct 30 (UNI) Public sector UCO Bank has recorded a healthy 13.29 per cent growth in net profit to Rs 162 crore during the first six months of the current fiscal and decided to open a new Representative office in China before the year end.

Announcing the first half results of this fiscal, UCO Bank Chairman and Managing Director V Sridhar here today said from April to September the operating profitability of the city-based Bank also recorded a healthy 22.37 per cent jump to Rs 454 crore from Rs 371 crore earned during the corresponding period last year.

He said in terms of overall business growth the Bank had recorded 20.51 per cent increase to Rs 97,564 crore from Rs 80,960 crore till September, 2005.

" However, by March next year we have targetted to reach a business volume of Rs 1,11,000 crore before reaching the record volume of Rs 200,000 crore by 2010, " Mr Sridhar later informed UNI.

Asked about his plan for further capital infusion, Mr Sridhar said though the Bank's Capital Adequacy Ratio was presently comfortably placed at 12.89 per cent following the raising of nearly Rs 1,000 crore as tier One and Tier Two bonds, they were also exploring the possibility of raising more fund from the market as Tier One capital during the first quarter of 2007-08.

However, neither had been the size nor the exact time of fresh capital infusion decided so far as it entirely depended on the RBI, he said and ruled out the possibility of extension of the Bank's eligibility towards the BASEL II norms.

The Bank's present Capital base stood at around Rs 800 crore, Mr Sridhar informed.

When his attention was drawn towards the Bank's minus growth in investment ratio in its global operation, the UCO Bank Chairman said it was primarily due to reduction in interest rates, but hoped the volume would surely pick up before the year end to bridge the gap.

Regarding his plan for improving the overseas operation, Mr Sridhar said following the receipt of necessary clearance from RBI and the Chinese authorities they were opening a Representative office at Gungdong city in South-Western China by December this year before inaugurating similar offices in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Dubai by next year.

At present UCO Bank had four overseas branches, including two in Hong Kong and Singapore, Mr Sridhar informed.

Further elaborating the Bank's financial performance, he said while the deposit grew by 14.02 per cent to Rs 56,800 crore, the volume of credit went up by a robust 30.89 per cent to Rs 40,764 crore.

The total income also grew by over 22 per cent to 2746 crore on year on year basis.

He said UCO Bank had also decided to improve its income from selling of Mutual Fund products from Rs 6.5 crore last year to Rs 20 crore this year.

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