State Bank of Hyderabad's net profit rose 6.81 per cent to Rs 481.04 crore in the quarter ended March 2012, from Rs 450.35 crore in the year-ago period.
During the quarter, its net interest income climbed 31.29 per cent to Rs 1052.55 crore (Rs 801.69 crore).
For fiscal 2011-12 as whole, its net profit grew 11.32 per cent to Rs 1,298.27 crore (Rs 1,166.24 crore). The rise in profit was primarily a result of higher net interest income, which grew by 18.11 per cent to Rs 3,364.49 crore (Rs 2,848.51 crore).
The bank's total business touched Rs 1,80,143 crore, reflecting a growth of 14.7 per cent over the previous fiscal, while advances touched Rs 78,337 crore, up by 19.7 per cent.
Mr M. Bhagavantha Rao, Managing Director, said the bank will be opening 175 branches in the current fiscal. In the last three years, it opened 444 branches, with two-thirds of them being in rural and semi-urban areas.
“We will also be hiring 2,500 personnel, including officers and clerks, during the year,” he told newspersons here on Thursday.
The bank feels that its Net Interest Margin, which was at 3.47 per cent last fiscal, would remain under some pressure this fiscal owing to prevailing economic conditions and could drop by some 20 basis points. It is also keen to keep its gross NPA (non-performing assets) below the existing Rs 2,007 crore, or 2.56 per cent this year.
On interest rates, Mr Rao said there may not be any “steep changes” in rates this fiscal, “but, if anything, the direction will be downward.”
New product
On new products in the pipeline, he said the bank has put together a new product that seeks to combine recurring deposits with term deposits. “We are awaiting regulatory approvals, which we expect in the next two-three months,” he said.
The product essentially envisages opening of a recurring deposit for a stipulated period, which could then be automatically converted into a fixed deposit with the idea of freeing interest rates.