Vijaya Bank's Q3 net up 22 % at Rs 152 crore

BANGALORE: Vijaya Bank today reported a 21.86 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 151.8 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2010, over the same period a year ago.

For the same period last fiscal the company had reported a net profit of Rs 124.57 crore.

Net interest income for the December 2010 quarter rose by 36.49 per cent, while net interest margin improved to 3.44 per cent from 2.65 per cent in the corresponding three months of the last fiscal, bank Chairman and Managing Director Albert Tauro told reporters at a press conference here.

The bank's total income rose by 9.46 per cent to Rs 1,584.4 crore during October-December, from Rs 1,447.41 crore in the same period of the previous year.

Net profit of Rs 151.80 crore is arrived at after making a provision of Rs 95 crore for the second pension option, Rs 98.03 crore or non-performing assets (NPA) and tax provision of Rs 60 crore.

Gross NPA in the third quarter has gone up to Rs 1,073 crore, compared to Rs 995 crore in the year-ago period, and the net NPA from Rs 512 crore to Rs 598 crore.

Tauro said: "NPA is absolutely under check. There is no serious challenge on NPA. NPA is well within our control".

The bank's aggregate business as of December 31 last year stood at Rs 1,07,272 crore, comprising Rs 63,702 crore of deposits and Rs 43,570 crore of advances.

Tauro said the bank would open three corporate banking branches in Hyderbad, Chennai and Pune.