CHENNAI: Dena Bank is planning to sell a part of its NPA (non-performing assets) through a bidding process. Indicating this in an informal chat with presspersons here on Tuesday, Chairman and Managing Director (CMD), P. L. Gairola said the bank had identified NPAs worth around Rs. 600 crore for possible sale.

The CMD said Dena Bank had sought the help of well-known consultant PricewaterhouseCooper (PWC) to study the proposal in its entirety and come out with its recommendations.

Gross NPA of the bank stood at RS.949 crore at the end of March 2006.

The gross NPA as a percentage of gross advances declined to 6.44 per cent as on March 2006 from 9.67 per cent at the end of March 2005. Net NPA stood at Rs.433 crore as on March 2006. The net NPA as a percentage of net advances stood at 3.04 per cent as at the end of March 2006, down from 5.23 per cent at the end of March 2005.

The sale move is part of the bank's effort to bring down the gross NPA to below four per cent and net NPA to 1.5 per cent this year.

Earlier addressing a press conference, Mr. Gairola said the bank had commenced initiatives on the core banking front. Wipro-led consortium would implement the core-banking solution, he said. He estimated the investment on the core banking front would be Rs. 300 crore over the next ten years. The bank, he said, had gone in for an outsourcing option in this instance. This would see the vendor (Wipro) replace the hardware in four years.

He said the investment on core banking would be P&L (profit and loss) neutral in two years.

He said Dena Bank would open 30 more branches in the current financial year. It would open a branch in Puducherry, he added.

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