AP Mahesh Bank to deploy core banking solution

Bank earmarks Rs 4 cr for implementation

City-based AP Mahesh Co-operative Urban Bank Limited is planning to implement a core banking solution (CBS) across all its branches during the current financial year with an investment of around Rs 4 crore. The bank has already invested around Rs 5 crore in computerisation of all its branches.

Speaking to Business Standard, Santosh Rathi, managing director (in-charge) of AP Mahesh Co-operative Urban Bank, said: "We are in talks with a couple of companies for the implementation of the CBS and we plan to implement the solution across all our branches during the current fiscal."

According to Rathi, the first quarter of the current financial year was not very impressive for the bank, but expected the growth to pick up in the coming quarters.

"The main reason for the quarter being average was because of some of the co-operative banks closing down and due to the crisis of the Global Trust bank," he said.

For the financial year ended March 31, 2004, the bank's total business crossed Rs 500 crore and as on June 20, 2004, the total business was at Rs 501 crore.

At present, the bank has a deposit base of Rs 348 crore and the advances stand at Rs 165 crore. The bank expects the total business to cross Rs 523 crore during the current financial year. "We expect the deposit base to increase to around Rs 358 crore and the advances to go up to around Rs 165 crore during the current financial year," he said.

For the last financial year, the bank recorded a net profit of Rs 5.89 crore with zero per cent net non-performing assets (NPAs).

The prudent credit management resulted in the bank attaining the zero per cent net NPAs which very few co-operative banks had achieved, he said.

The bank has a paid-up share capital of Rs 10.6 crore and reserves worth Rs 84.74 crore. At present, the capital adequacy ratio (CAR) of the bank is at 44.08 per cent.

The bank is at present testing its ATM services at its Himayatnagar branch and based on the results it plans to add more ATMs. Apart from this, the bank plans to go online soon and intends to become the first co-operative bank to do so.

At present, the bank has 30 branches of which 22 are in the city, six in the districts and one each in Mumbai and Jaipur. It has applied to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for opening three more branches. "We would like to open branches in Nizamabad and Karimnagar so that we would have presence in major towns in the state," he said.

The Mahesh Bank is also offering e-Seva services at Ameerpet and Khairatabad in the city. It plans to start e-Seva services at all its branches in the twin cities.

Rathi said that though the bank does not give any direct lending to the agriculture sector, it lent Rs 3 crore to the sector indirectly during the last financial year. "This year, we expect the indirect agriculture finance to be between Rs 6 crore and Rs 7 crore," he said.

Tech Forward

• The bank is in talks with a couple of companies for the implementation of the CBS
• The co-op urban bank is at present testing its ATM services at its Himayatnagar branch and based on the results it plans to add more ATMs
• It also plans to start e-Seva services at all its branches in the twin cities