The Hindu Business Line : Vijaya Bank sets target for Kerala

Kochi Aug. 7 Vijaya Bank plans to open five more branches and take the total business volume to Rs 1,700 crore in Kerala, up from Rs 1,470 crore attained last year.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Prakash P. Mallya, Chairman and Managing Director, said that the bank has been interacting with 148 Self Help Groups in the State and has already disbursed Rs 2 crore as credit through them.

The bank presently has 60 branches spread across 13 districts in Kerala, other than the Kasargod district which is under the jurisdiction of the Mangalore region.

Priority Sector Lending

Last year, the bank had deposits of Rs 940 crore in the State and advances of Rs 530 crore. With good demand for educational loans and loans for women, the bank was able to disburse Rs 402 crore to the priority sector, making it one of the top regions as far as priority sector lending is concerned.

The bank has got permission to start 70 new branches in the current financial year and would be opening its 1,000th branch in the next couple of months, Mr Mallya said. The bank currently has 985 branches and it intends to take it to 1,050 at the end of the current fiscal.

It has applied for licence to open branches in China, Hong Kong and Dubai and was hopeful of opening its first foreign branch before the end of the year.

Price Spurts

The bank hoped to take its business volumes to Rs 76,000 crore (Rs 65,000 crore) for the current year and has targeted a net profit of Rs 450 crore, up from Rs 331 crore of last year.

If the inflation rates can be contained at the current levels, Mr Mallya said that there could be a reduction in interest rates by 25 to 50 basis points for select sectors like SMEs, infrastructure, manufacturing etc in the coming months.

He said that the bank has been moderating its commercial real estate lending where the Government has warned that there is fair amount of speculative price spurts.

More Stories on : Credit Market | Kerala | Public Sector Banks

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