The Hindu : Vijaya Bank's ambitious plans

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Oct 04, 2003

Business

Business

Vijaya Bank's ambitious plans

By Our Corporate Reporter

CHENNAI OCT. 3. Vijaya Bank hopes to cross the Rs. 42,000 crore mark in respect of its business by 2005 and by March next year the plan was to reach the Rs. 33,000 crore mark, according to M. S. Kapur, Chairman and Managing Director of the bank.

Addressing presspersons here, today, in connection with the second public offer of shares, he said the total business stood at Rs. 25,204 crores as on March 31, 2003. The bank had reported a consistent growth in deposits and advances in the last five years. While deposits had grown at a CAGR (compounded annual growth rate) of 15.12 per cent to 17,019.80 crores advances had risen by 20.30 per cent in the last five years to Rs. 7,891.30 crores in the year ended March 31, 2003, Mr. Kapur said.

The bank is coming out with the public issue of 10 crore equity shares of Rs. 10 each at a premium of Rs. 14 per share aggregating Rs. 240 crores. The issue is open from October 9 to 17.

The proceeds will be utilised to augment the capital base of the bank to meet future capital adequacy requirements. After the issue the equity capital will increase to Rs. 433.52 crores from Rs. 333.52 crores and the holding of the Union Government will come down to 53.87 per cent from 70.02 per cent.

On the NPA front the net non-performing assets as a percentage to net advances had come down sharply to 2.61 per cent as on March 31, 2003 from 6.02 per cent in the previous year. The NPA level had come down still further to 1.6 per cent, one of the lowest in the industry, Mr. Kapur claimed. In absolute terms the NPA at Rs. 140 crores against the advances portfolio of Rs. 9,000 crores was an eye-opener for the banking system, Mr. Kapur said.

According to Ratnakar Hegde, General Manager, 40 per cent of the NPA pertained to accounts of Rs. 1 lakh and below, and 60 per cent pertained to Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 5 lakhs. On branch expansion, Mr. Hegde said the bank had a well spread distribution network of 843 branches and the plan was to increase the number of branches to 1,000 by next year.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Business