Union Bank net up 12%

BS 200 SCORECARD

Union Bank of India's profit grew 11.66 per cent to Rs 255.84 crore in the third quarter ended December 31, 2006 from Rs 229.08 crore in October-December 2005 on benefit of hike in lending rates and recoveries from non-performing assets (NPAs).

The public sector bank's total third-quarter income was up 24.3 per cent y-o-y to Rs 2,054.4 crore. Its interest income rose 22.21 per cent to Rs 1,849.2 crore.

The interest expenditure rose to Rs 1,163.3 crore from Rs 989.7 crore in Q3 of 2005-06. The non-interest income comprising revenues from trading and recoveries for bad assets (NPAs) shot up 47.48 per cent to Rs 205 crore at the end of December 2006 from Rs 139 crore a year ago.

For the quarter under review, the bank's deposit base rose to Rs 77,292 crore from Rs 70,469 crore a year ago. The cost of deposits increased to 5.15 per cent from 4.73 per cent. The share of low-cost deposits "� current and savings "� grew to 34.9 per cent from 32.74 per cent a year ago.