Union Bank of India's net profit up by 11.8 per cent in Q3

Mumbai, Jan 25 (UNI) Union Bank of India (UBI) has posted a net profit of Rs 255.84 crore for the quarter ended December 31 as compared to Rs 229.08 crore for the same period last year and thus registering a growth of 11.79 per cent.

Total income has increased from Rs 1,652.5 crore for the third quarter in 2005 to Rs 2,054.44 crore for the same quarter this year.

After announcing the results of the third quarter, bank CMD, M V Nair, said ''Our efforts will be to improve the low cost deposits with an emphasis on two per cent during the last quarter of the current fiscal''.

Replying to a media query, he said the bank was still waiting for the approval to be given by the competitive authority to make its foray into the insurance sector.

UBI has entered into joint venture with Bank of India and Die Ichi to introduce a new insurance product in the life segment. Once we get the approval, we'll stop selling the similar products of HDFC Bank following the guidelines of the IRDA, he added.

SME advances of the bank increased to Rs 7,811 crore during the Q3 from Rs 6,134 crore during the corresponding last year, thus registering a growth of 27.33 per cent. The bank's average business grew by Rs 22,660 crore from Rs 1,06,902 crore during the same period last year, thus registering YoY growth of 21.20 per cent.

UNI