Vijaya Bank posts an impressive growth

Bangalore, Apr 30 (UNI) Posting an impressive growth and repositioning as a mid sized bank, Vijaya Bank today announced a 39 per cent increase in business at Rs 62,248 crore for 2006-07 and a net profit of Rs 331.34 crore, up by 161.14 per cent year on year basis from Rs 126.88 crore.

Announcing the results bank Chairman and MD Prakash P Mallya said Q4 saw a 284 per cent increase in net profit, over corresponding previous quarter, at Rs 63.65 crore.

Mr Mallya said the net interest margin was 3.41 per cent for the year with the return on average assets doubling to 0.92 per cent as against 0.45 per cent the previous year.

He said the bank's overall performance in all sectors had yielded better results, especially the cost control. The bank's total advances as on March 31, 2007 stood at Rs 24,644 crore, up by 45 per cent while the deposits rose by a record 36 per cent at Rs 37,605 crore.

He said the bank would be going slow on commercial real estate credit this year to avoid speculation and lower risks. Last year the exposure to this line of credit was around Rs 1,100 crore up from Rs 820 crore the previous year. The bank would also be approaching the market shortly to raise a capital of Rs 200 crore.

More market entry was also not ruled out for the year, he said adding that the bank was expecting the coupon rate to come down from the present level of 10.25 per cent to 10.50 per cent.

For the current fiscal the bank aimed to touch a total business of Rs 75,000 crore, he said, adding that greater thrust would be on export credit and increase the number of core banking service business outlets from 464 to 675 branches, and the business coverage from 80 per cent to 90 per cent.

UNI