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Prolonged sluggishness in the economy has forced Bank of India (BoI) to look at selling around ₹900 crore worth of non-performing assets (NPAs) to asset reconstruction companies in the current quarter.
“We have been doing it (sale of NPAs) in last two quarters, and we are examining at it even in this quarter also. We have to crystallise on the amount...it may be ₹800-900 crore in Q4,” VR Iyer, Chairperson and Managing Director, said.
She said the bank had auctioned ₹2,000 crore of NPAs in Q2 and Q3, but only about ₹627 crore was taken off from the gross NPA level. Iyer added the bank was not likely to take any hit by selling the NPAs to ARCs.
The bank also expects margins in the current fiscal to fall to 2.90 per cent from 3 per cent earlier.
“The earlier estimate for NIM (net interest margin) on the domestic side was at 3 per cent, but the turnaround which we thought, has not really happened. So, we are compelled to revise that to 2.90 per cent,” Iyer said.
However, the bank expects net interest margins on the international side to improve to 1.20 per cent by March-end, and the combined NIM to 2.72 per cent.
Meanwhile, the bank has unveiled a facility for card-less cash withdrawal without opening a bank account.
The facility is largely targeted at migrant labourers.
IMT-enabledUnder its IMT — instant money transfer — initiative, BoI’s customers can remit or transfer money by keying in the receiver’s mobile number. The receiver can withdraw money from a Bank of India ATM by feeding in a code authorised by the sender.
The sender will be charged ₹25 for every transaction.
The maximum withdrawal limit is ₹10,000 per transaction, while the monthly limit is ₹25,000.
The bank is looking at making all its ATMs IMT-enabled in the next 20 days. Further, the bank is making efforts to roll-out the service on mobile handsets in a month’s time.
Bank of India added 2,100 ATMs in FY14 so far and plans to add 100 more by the end of the financial year ending March 31, taking the total number to about 4,100 ATMs.
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