Vijaya Bank's total business zooms by 33.73 pc

Tirupati, Nov 8: Public sector Vijaya Bank's total business has increased from Rs 51,581 crore to Rs 68,980 crore, up by 33.73 per cent, while its net profit in the second quarter of the current fiscal grew to Rs 216 crore from Rs 174.96 crore during the corresponding quarter last year, its Chairman and Managing Director Prakash P Mallya has said.

Speaking on the occasion of shifting the bank's Tirupati branch to a new premises here yesterday, he said the earning per share had gone up from Rs 8.08 to Rs ten. Deposits had increased from Rs 31,952 crore to Rs 42,169 crore, up by 31.98 per cent.

Mr Mallya said the net NPA ratio was 0.44 per cent as compared to 0.57 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year, while the gross NPA stood at 2.03 per cent as against 2.60 per cent in the previous year. Agricultural credit increased from Rs 2,598 crore to Rs 3,017 crore, up by 16 per cent.

Referring to the bank's new initiatives and plans for the current fiscal, he said its corporate goal was to make business of Rs 76,000 crore, comprising total deposits of Rs 45,000 crore, and increase the number of branches to 1,050.

Mr Mallya said the bank was contemplating to increase its ATM network to 375 by March next and the number of Core Banking System (CBS) outlets from 571 to 675, besides providing Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT) facility through CBS branches in the current fiscal.

As part of the bank's expansion plans in the Andhra region, a branch would be opened at Amalapuram by the year-end, he said.

UNI