The Hindu : Business : Vijaya Bank plans to do business for Rs. 2,000 crores

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 16, 2006

Business

Business

Vijaya Bank plans to do business for Rs. 2,000 crores

Staff Reporter

The bank proposes to open branches in West Asia, Hong Kong and China

KOCHI: Vijaya Bank is targeting to do business estimated at Rs. 2,000 crores in the State during the current financial year. The bank will open four or five branches in the State this year, according to Prakash P. Mallya, its Chairman and Managing Director. The bank plans to open branches in West Asia, Hong Kong and China.

Mr. Mallya was addressing a press conference here on Thursday after opening a service branch at Broadway in Ernakulam. The branch is the first of the bank with a centralised clearing system, wherein cheques get credited or debited to accounts at the branch itself in respect of all customers maintaining accounts with any of the 10 branches of Vijaya Bank in Kochi.

The service branch will also attend functions such as clearing of drafts and outstation cheques, servicing of pension accounts, online tax accounting system, electronic funds transfer, electronic clearing service, real-time gross settlement and funds remittance.

The bank has 73 branches in Kerala. With 923 branches across the country now, it is planning to expand the network to touch the 1,000 mark during the current financial year. More than 250 branches are spread in rural areas, while more than 200 are in semi-urban areas.

As many as 365 branches provide core banking solutions and the bank is planning to provide the service at 500 branches by March 2007. Answering questions, he said the bank was moving cautiously in providing housing loans as many banks had been cheated by borrowers who had provided fake documents. Interest rates might harden and the decision would depend on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) policy to be announced in July.

The bank had posted an operating profit of Rs. 718.23 crores in 2005-06, while the net profit amounted to Rs. 126.88 crores. The capital adequacy ratio stood at 11.94 per cent as on March 31, 2006 and was well above the RBI norm of 9 per cent.

The total deposits of the bank were Rs. 27,709.29 crores as on March 31, 2006. The gross advances of the bank stood at Rs. 17,061.84 crores in March 2006, recording a growth rate of 16.2 per cent. Total agricultural advances of the bank as on March 2006 were Rs. 2,455.78 crores, registering an increase of 28.5 per cent.

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

Business