SBI declares marginal rise in net profit
Mumbai: The State Bank of India (SBI) has declared a marginal rise of 1.44 per cent in net profit in the third quarter ended December 2005, to Rs1,115.19 crore, over the Rs1,099.35 crore, recorded in the corresponding quarter a year earlier. This is despite an Rs531.54 crore exchange rate gain on redemption of the India Millennium Deposits (IMDs) in December.

The country's largest bank said its total income during the quarter rose to Rs11,398.62 crore from Rs10,267.07 crore in the year-ago period. Total interest income for the quarter was up by 19.04 per cent to Rs9,558.15 crore from Rs8,029.07 crore.

The revenues from interest on advances rose by a hefty 35.60 per cent to Rs4,667.94 crore as against Rs3,442.42 crore.

SBI's profits were impacted by staff costs that grew by 49.35 per cent in the quarter at Rs2,524.12 crore (Rs1,690.47 crore last year). The staff costs for the nine-month period ended December 2005 registered a growth of 22.56 per cent to Rs6,198.87 crore mainly due to wage revision and higher contribution to pension fund, SBI said in a statement on Saturday.

The net profit for April-December 2005 increased by 9.68 per cent to Rs3,553.38 crore from Rs3,239.64 crore in the last corresponding period.

The total deposit base grew 3.74 per cent to Rs3,63,731 crore (Rs3,50,630 crore). The lower growth in deposits was due to payment of IMDs amounting to Rs25,641 crore. The cost of deposits declined to 4.52 per cent (4.74 per cent).

The capital adequacy ratio was down to 12.49 per cent (12.66 per cent). The net non-performing assets declined to 1.67 per cent (2.67 per cent). The earning per share improved to Rs90.02 at the end of 2005 (Rs82.07).
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Western Union to double network
Kochi: Western Union Financial Services is planning to almost double its network in India. Currently, Western Union is present in 28,000 locations and plans to increase it by 50,000 in the next 2-3 years,

Hikmet Ersek, senior vice-president for Europe, Middle East, Africa and South Asia, told reporters here. "India is one of the fastest growing markets and we have tied up with the top ten banks for money transfer service," he said.
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Karnataka Bank declares Q3 net profit at Rs.42-cr
Mangalore: Karnataka Bank has announced a net profit of Rs41.52 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year as against Rs36.89 crore in the year-ago period, a growth of 12.55 per cent.

For the nine-month period, the bank has recorded a net profit of Rs125.02 crore against Rs106.90 crore in the same period last year, a 16.95 per cent growth. During the third quarter, the bank recorded an operating profit of Rs78.23 crore (Rs75 crore). While the total income stood at Rs303.14 crore (Rs260.09 crore), the total expenditures were Rs224.91 crore (Rs185.09 crore).

Deposits were at Rs11,465 crore and advances were at Rs7,044 crore in the first three quarters of the current fiscal as against Rs9,187 crore and Rs5,491 crore respectively in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

The capital adequacy ratio stood at 13.53 per cent and the net-NPA at 1.56 per cent. Out of 387 branches, 302 are networked under core banking solution covering 95 per cent of business. The bank proposes to expand its branch network at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Guwahati and Goa by the end of this financial year, the bank release said.
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Dena Bank ties up with SMERA
Mumbai: Dena Bank has tied up with the SME Rating Agency of India (SMERA) for rating their small and medium enterprise clients.

SMERA and Dena Bank will work together for popularising each other's services and products among their clients. The initiative will help Dena Bank enhance the flow of credit to the SME sector and also to build a healthy credit portfolio. While the bank can reduce the processing time, the SME units will be able to get loans at competitive interest rates.
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Trade union wants PSU general insurers to merge
Kochi: The General Insurance Employees Union (GIEU) has demanded that the United India Insurance Company, New India Assurance Company, Oriental Insurance and National Insurance be merged to form a powerful, single monolithic corporation. This it says is in order to avoid unhealthy competition among the public sector general insurance companies and to provide the best of services to the customer.

The GIEU has also opposed moves to raise FDI in general insurance industry from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.
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