1. Centurion Bank of Punjab in the third quarter has registered a growth of 44% in net profit at Rs 33.5 crs, against Rs 23.3 crs in the corresponding period in the previous year. Net interest income was up 40% at Rs 146.5 crs against Rs 104.5 crs in the previous year. Total income was up 51.7% at Rs 248.2 crs (Rs163.6 crs). Other income increased 72% to Rs 101.8 crs (Rs 59.1 crs).
2. Karur Vysya Bank's operating profit for the third quarter rose by 36.9% to Rs 61.51 crs from Rs 44.93 crs during the corresponding period of the earlier fiscal. Its net profit increased marginally to Rs 26.19 crs (Rs 25.86 crs) during this period. Its interest income registered a 37.55% growth to reach Rs 225.28 crs (Rs 163.78 crs) while the interest on advances grew by 39.75% to Rs 163.37 crs (Rs 116.90 crs). Investment income was up by 26.53% to Rs 57.43 crs (Rs 45.39 crs). The operating profit during the first nine months of the current fiscal increased to Rs 194.76 crs ( Rs 142.84 crs). The net profit (after providing for non performing assets, standard assets and depreciation on investments) rose by 18% to Rs 107.13 crs (Rs 90.98 crs). The net NPA as a percentage of net advances fell to 0.39% against 1.05 per cent a year ago. The NPA provision coverage ratio improved to 87.08% (75.66%).
3. Higher provisioning and lower net interest income have pulled down the net profit of SBI by 4.49% for the quarter ended Dec 31, 2006. It reported a profit after tax of Rs 1,065.06 crs for the third quarter against Rs 1,115.19 crs in the year-ago period. Provisioning for bad loans at Rs 410 crs (compared with a write-back of this provision in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal) and provision for depreciation of investments of about Rs 658 crs were major contributors to the below par performance. The presence of an extraordinary gain of Rs 1,100 crs (on account of the currency gains in the redemption of India Millennium Deposits of $7.1 bn) in the quarter ended December 2005 made the performance look worse. State Bank of India has recorded about 11% rise in deposits and around 26% growth in advances. SBI has reported 11.17% rise in deposits to Rs 4,04,352 crs as on Dec. 31, 2006 from Rs 3,63,731 crs as on Dec 31, 2005. The growth appears to be low due to the bank's conscious strategy of not relying upon corporate bulk deposits.
4.The President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, has given his assent to an Ordinance that would empower the RBI to lower the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) below 25%. The Ordinance has been promulgated. With this, the RBI would get more operational flexibility in the conduct of monetary policy and could peg the SLR anywhere from 0- 40%.
