Corporation Bank Q1 net down 17 per cent

By Our Banking Bureau | 24 Jul 2004

New Delhi: Corporation Bank has recorded a net profit at Rs 105.51 crore during the quarter ended June 30, a 17 per cent decline over the net of Rs 126.43 crore in the corresponding quarter in the previous year.

Announcing the results, the chairman and managing director, K Cherian Varghese, said that the lower profits were mainly on account of the fall in profit on sale of securities from Rs 57 crore to Rs 15 crore. However, he pointed out that the bank''s gross profit increased by 12.41 per cent to Rs 227.86 crore during the quarter.

The gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of the bank declined to 5.01 per cent while net NPAs were at 1.8 per cent. The bank aims to cut down its NPA to below 1.5 per cent this fiscal. Corporation Bank''s deposits grew by 12 per cent to Rs 23,995 crore, with the cost of deposit coming down to 4.61 per cent from 6.05 per cent a year ago. The loan advances of the bank increased by 26.30 per cent to Rs 14,487 crore till June 2004.

Varghese said that Corporation Bank is targeting a business growth of 18.91 per cent to Rs 44,000 crore in 2004-05 against Rs 37,000 crore in the last fiscal. "We aim to achieve 26 per cent growth in advances and 18 per cent in deposits during this fiscal," he said. He said that the bank''s thrust would be on the retail lending this fiscal.