SBBJ net up 34% on rise in interest margins

Improvement in interest margins helped the growth

State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ), an associate of State Bank of India, has posted 33 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 238 crore for the quarter ended March, compared with Rs 178 crore in the corresponding period last year. The increase was primarily due to substantial improvement in interest margins.

However, the bank’s asset quality came under pressure, with gross non-performing assets rising to Rs 2,733 crore (4.18 per cent) as of March-end, compared with Rs 2,119 crore (3.76 per cent) a year earlier.

For the March quarter, the bank’s net interest income rose 33 per cent year-on-year to Rs 741 crore. Net interest margin improved to 3.65 per cent from 3.14 per cent in the year-ago period, said Managing Director B Sriram.

Net profit for 2013-14 stood at Rs 732 crore, against Rs 730 crore in the previous financial year. For 2013-14, the bank’s board has recommended 143 per cent dividend a share (Rs 10 each). As of March-end, SBBJ’s deposits stood at Rs 73,874 crore, 2.44 per cent more compared to a year earlier. The share of low-cost current account and savings account deposits to overall deposits improved to 39.51 per cent from 35.88 per cent in the year-ago period.

“In the financial year gone by (FY14), we have deliberately moved from liquidity-surplus to a deficit situation,” Sriram said.

The bank reduced the share of certificates of deposits and bulk deposits from 18.27 per cent in March 2013 to 12.79 per cent in March 2014.

SBBJ’s advances grew 12 per cent to Rs 82,416 crore, with the share of corporate loans at 58.7 per cent. “We want to bring down the share of corporate loans to 55 per cent in the next 18 months,” Sriram said.

At the end of March 2014, the bank’s capital adequacy ratio was 11.55 per cent, against 11.12 per cent a year earlier.