The Hindu Business Line : United Bank aims to trim NPAs to 2 pc

UNITED Bank of India has recorded a total business of Rs 31,179 crore for the year ended March 31, 2004, up from Rs 28,923 crore in the previous year. It closed the last fiscal with a deposit base of Rs 22,758 crore (Rs 21,031 crore).

Gross advances for the Kolkata-based bank stood at Rs 8,421 crore (Rs 7,892 crore). Priority sector advances accounted for Rs 3,292 crore (Rs 2,854 crore). Announcing the results here on Wednesday, Mr Parkash Singh, CMD, said the bank's low-cost deposits base had expanded standing at Rs 10,203 crore for the year ended March, 2004 (Rs 8,984 crore). "Our share of low-cost deposits has improved, from 43 per cent to 45 per cent," he told newspersons.

The bank expects to bring down its net NPA ratio to below two per cent by March 2006 and wipe out accumulated losses as well. This will be possible by following prudent lending norms and initiating an active recovery programme.

It had pared its gross NPAs from Rs 959 crore in 2002-03 to Rs 764 crore in 2003-04. The ratio of gross NPAs to gross advances was 9.07 per cent (12.15 per cent). The net NPA stood at Rs 299 crore, down from Rs 406 crore.

Mr Singhsaid the focus for the current year was on retail credit. As for lending, its thrust areas will include health care, infrastructure and education.

Its retail portfolio moved up to Rs 961 crore from Rs 605 crore. The bulk of this came by way of housing and personal loans.

The bank posted a marginal improvement in net profit - from Rs 305 crore at end-March 2003 to Rs 315 crore for the year ended March 2004. Operating profit moved up from Rs 556 crore to Rs 613 crore during this period.

There was increased provisioning, Mr Singh, who has joined United Bank only recently, noted. "We have scaled down our accumulated losses from Rs 894 crore in 2003 to Rs 577 crore last year," he said. The bank's capital adequacy ratio stood at 17.04 per cent, up from 15.17 per cent.

On another front, the bank is fine-tuning its internal set-up for better decision-making. In recent times it has received a number of proposals from potential borrowers engaged in various businesses.

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