The Hindu Business Line : SBT targets Rs 950-cr operating profit

The total business of the bank had crossed Rs 30,000 crore in 2003-04 and of the additional business projected for the current year, deposits are expected to be to the tune of Rs 4,000 crore and advances of Rs 2,500 crore. The operating profit in the previous year was Rs 701 crore.

As reported earlier, SBT made a net profit of Rs 245 crore in 2003-04, which represented a 43 per cent increase over the previous year's profit of Rs 171 crore. The capital adequacy ratio stood at 11.36 per cent, while the level of NPA came down to 1.39 per cent.

Explaining the bank's plans for the current year at a news conference here on Thursday, Mr P.P. Pattanayak, Chief General Manager, said the number of ATMs would be increased to 350 before March 31, 2005, from 202 as of now. The bank also targeted taking the number of ATM cards to one million by then.

The bank is now operating two exchange companies in West Asia, namely, City Exchange Company in Dubai and Global Money Exchange Company in the Sultanate of Oman. It is planning to open one more exchange company in the region shortly.

These apart, the bank is considering opening of two representative offices in the Gulf region. One of them would be located in Dubai and the other one in Saudi Arabia, Mr Pattanayak said.

On expansion of the branch network, he informed that more branches would be opened in the northern parts of the Kerala. Currently, the bank had 553 branches in the State and a majority of them were operating in the southern region. SBT was also holding licences for opening one branch each in Delhi and Mumbai, he said.

The bank has already achieved 100 per cent computerisation of the branches and the plan for the current year is to make core banking facility available in 150 branches. It has also launched new IT initiatives such as a scheme for remittance of tuition and other fees payable at select educational institutions through the ATMs and an online tax accounting scheme to speed up the collection and remittance of taxes.

To a question whether the bank was intending any additional capital infusion, Mr Pattanayak said the capital adequacy ratio now was at a comfortable level of 11.36 per cent as against the nine per cent prescribed by the Reserve Bank. However, the bank had headway for issuing tier-II bonds worth Rs 100 crore and it would utilise that option when the need arose, he added.