Central Bank of India net up 50 pc

Mumbai, Jan 24 (UNI) Public sector lender Central Bank of India (CBI) today announced that it has posted a net profit increase of 50 per cent to Rs 201 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2007 as against Rs 134 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

The total business grew by Rs 34,671 crore or 28.58 per cent to Rs 1,55,972 crore from Rs 1,21,301 crore as on Dec 31, 2006.

However, the net interest margine (NIM) has came down slightly, the Bank's chairperson and managing director H A Daruwala told mediapersons here.

''NIM is 2.79 per cent as we lost Rs 51 crore during the quarter.

Nevertheless, we have planned strategies for recovery,'' she said.

The gross NPA has improved from 5.98 per cent to 4.37 per cent and net NPA was at 1.22 per cent during the period from 1.81 per cent. The gross NPAs will positively come down and the bank has already targetted it to be less than 2 per cent and net NPA to be less than one per cent in the near future, Ms Daruwala said.

''We are also concentrating on the cash recoveries in the prudentially written off accounts. Thus, with all these strategies put together, we are equally confidant that both the NII and the NIM will be north bound,'' she added.

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