Syndicate Bank earns a reduced net profit for the first quarter

Bangalore, Jul 29 (UNI) Public Sector Syndicate Bank has earned a reduced net profit of Rs 87.89 crores for the first quarter ended June 30 as against Rs 221.03 crores during the first quarter last year.

Announcing this to newsmen after a board meeting Bank's Executive Director George Joseph said the decline in net profit was mainly due to higher provision of Rs 261 crores for depreciation on investments. However, the operating profit of the bank for the quarter stood at Rs 293.76 crores as against Rs 314.52 crores for the first quarter during last year, he added.

He said the first quarter was a challenging one for the banking sector because of macro economic factors. International crude prices reached the peak forcing the Reserve Bank of India to hike its short term interest rate by 75 basis points to 8.70 and CRR by 125 basis points to 8.75 per cent. Inflation, based on the world price index, reached 11.89 per cent for the week ended July 12, he pointed out.

Replying to queries he said while the global business grew by 17.50 per cent and stood at Rs 155722 cores as against Rs 132526 crores as on June 30, domestic business increased to Rs 146630 crores from Rs 123095 crores by 19.12 per cent. The net Non Performing Asset ratio stood at 1.03 per cent as against 0.82 per cent, he added.

Answering a question he said the bank opened 13 new branches in last three months increasing its total number to 2182 spread over 28 States and four Union Territories. The Core Banking Solution network would reach from the present 96 per cent to 100 per cent soon, he added.

He said the bank achieved 100 per cent financial inclusion in all its lead districts in five states and one Union Territory of Lakshadweep. As part of second phase implementation of financial inclusion uploading of household survey through in house developed software was completed to generate useful data on family business model in Bagalkot district of Karnataka. Branchless Banking through Business Correspondent model would be implemented in Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. In Karnataka it would be implemented in Bellary, Chitradurga and Gulbarga districts. A biometric ATM was installed at Terdal Branch in Bagalkot district, he added.

He said the bank, in association with United India Insurance Company, had proposed to launch one more value added service to all its Savings Bank account holders who could avail personal accidents benefit of Rs one lakh by paying a flat premium of Rs 10 only per account per year.

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