SIB Q2 profit up 45%, dividend at 30%

Kottayam, Oct 14 (UNI) The South Indian Bank (SIB) has recorded a rise of 44.80 per cent in net profit for the second quarter of current financial year, Bank MD and CEO V A Joseph said here today.

Announcing this at news conference, he said the total business of the bank had increased by Rs 3,758 core registering a growth of 16.28 percent.

While deposits had gone up by Rs 1,783 crore, a growth of 12.80 per cent, advances grew by Rs 1,974 crore, growing 21.58 per cent.

The bank earned a total income of Rs 440.08 crore during the quarter as against Rs 345.82 crore for the previous year,registering a growth of 27.25 per cent.

The capital adequacy ratio of the bank was a high 14.44 per cent against the RBI prescribed minimum requirement of nine per cent.

The non-performing assets (NPA) was lower at 0.40 per cent as against 0.72 per cent for September 2007, while gross NPA was 1.81 percent compared with 3.41 per cent for September 2007.

The bank had declared a dividend of 30 per cent for the year 2007-2008, which was the highest in the history of the bank.

The bank had already opened 20 branches during the first half and proposed to open another 40 during the next 12 months to take the total number of branches to 560, he said.

The bank had launched a new product NRE privilege-diamond for the NRI segment who account for 20 per cent of the deposits.

There had been a robust growth in the bank's current account and savings account portfolio and that helped the bank in reducing the cost of funds.

The bank had launched SIB Junior to inculcate the savings habit among children, he added.

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