Vijaya Bank Q2 net up 33 pc at Rs 144.30 cr

BANGALORE: Vijaya Bank on Friday reported a net profit of Rs 144.30 crore for the second quarter as against Rs 108.42 crore in the same period last fiscal, a 33.08 per cent growth.

"It has been a satisfactory performance on the earnings side," Managing Director of the Bank Albert Tauro told reporters announcing the financial results for the second quarter ended September 30, 2010.

The total income of the bank grew to Rs 1520.92 crore for the second quarter this fiscal from Rs 1457.60 crore during the corresponding quarter last year.

Bank's operating profit growth for the second quarter was at 26.46 per cent amounting to Rs 295.85 crore compared to Rs 233.94 crore during the corresponding quarter last year.

"Consistent growth in core earnings has been Vijaya Bank's forte during the last several quarters. Second quarter of the current year has been no different", he said.

A 34 per cent growth in Net Interest Income (NII), improvement in Net Interest Margin (NIM) to 3.16 per cent from 2.39 per cent year-on-year and improved Return on Assets (ROA) of 0.81 per cent reflect continuous improvement in Bank's key financials, Tauro said.

Improved margins were mainly a result of higher Yield on Advances (10.20 per cent) and lower cost of deposits (5.64 per cent).

Cumulatively, for the first half of the current financial, the trends are similar. Higher Operating Profit of Rs 610.11 crore registering a growth of 37.50 per cent and Net Profit of Rs 317.78 crore which showed an improvement of 26.20 per cent were driven by 40.03 per cent growth in NII and NIM of 3.01 per cent which was at 2.36 per cent for the previous half year ended on September 30, 2009.

Aggregate business of the bank stood at Rs 1,02,473 crore, comprising Rs 62,688 crore of deposits and Rs 39,805 crore of advances. The bank's Capital Adequacy Ratio stood at 14.25 per cent (Basel-II)

As regards asset quality, gross NPA ratio and Net NPA ratio of the Bank stood at 2.44 per cent and 1.32 per cent respectively, coming down from 2.91 per cent and 1.46 per cent respectively from the corresponding period last year.

Going forward the bank is looking at a business level of Rs 1,26,000 crore,envisaging a 20 per cent growth by Marche 2011.

The bank will be opening 100 additional branches and 250 additional ATMs taking the branch and ATM strength to 1250 and 750 respectively.The bank is also looking at corporate agency for life insurance and non-life insurance.