THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Bank of Travancore (SBT), Kerala's premier nationalised bank, has recorded a net profit of Rs.185.82 crore during the first nine months of this financial year, the bank said in a press release here on Tuesday.

This is 13.65 per cent more than the net profit of Rs.163.50 crore recorded by the bank during the same period during the last financial year.

The operating profit for the period increased by 21.24 per cent compared to last year, up from Rs.526.75 crore to Rs.638.62 crore. The net interest income too went up by 14.44 per cent from Rs.712.27 crore during the nine months of 2005-06 ending on December 31, 2005 to Rs.815.09 per cent during the corresponding period in 2006-07. The non-interest income, including treasury income, too increased by 38.27 per cent on a year-to-year basis, from Rs.152.92 crore to Rs.211.45 crore, the bank said.

The SBT continued to improve its credit-deposit (CD) ratio in Kerala. The CD ratio of the bank in the State rose to 64.48 per cent as on December 31, 2006, compared to 59.96 per cent on March 31, 2006.

The CD ratio of the bank for the operations of its entire network of branches (within and outside Kerala) also grew by 4.05 per cent during the first nine months of this financial year to reach the level of 77.35 per cent.

During November 2006, the bank raised Rs.200 crore in the form of Innovative Perpetual Debt Instruments through private placement for strengthening its Tier-I capital. The capital adequacy ratio of the bank stood at 10.36 per cent at the end of December 2006.

The gross advances grew by Rs.4,208 crore during the nine months of this financial year, as against Rs.2,189 crore during the same period last year.

Retail lending inspired the growth in advances. Retail lending grew by Rs.1,920 crore during the period under review, compared to Rs.1,675 crore during the corresponding period last year.

The share of retail lending constituted 53.01 per cent of the total advances at the end of December 2006.

The bank's priority sector advances increased by 17.73 per cent during the period, the growth in real terms being Rs.1,413 crore.

Priority sector advances constituted 42.93 per cent of the total advances of the bank, against the benchmark of 40 per cent, the bank said.

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