Dhanlaxmi aims for total business of Rs 20k cr during FY11

Private sector Dhanlaxmi Bank plans to stabilise its branch operations and aims to grow its business to Rs 20,000-crore this fiscal, from the present Rs 12,105-crore, a senior bank official said.

"We plan to stabilise our branch operations this year and hence do not have any big branch expansion plans. We are aiming for a total business of Rs 20,000-crore by end-FY11," the bank's CFO, Bipin Kabra, said here today.

The bank presently has 270 branches and its management would take a call on network-expansion only in the second-half of this fiscal, he said. Dhanlaxmi Bank plans to raise up to Rs 400 crore through a QIP by September to augment the Tier-I capital base of the bank, he said.

"We will use the proceeds to strengthen our capital adequacy ratio and support our business growth and expansion plans," Kabra said. In FY10, Dhanlaxmi Bank clocked a total income of Rs 625.56-crore, up 28 per cent from Rs 487.77-crore in the year-ago period.

The bank's net profit in FY10 stood at Rs 23.3 crore as compared to Rs 57.5 crore in the year-ago period. "This is because we are in the investment phase. We have invested a lot in people, products, processes, technology and infrastructure," Kabra said, explaining the dip in net profit.

Dhanlaxmi Bank's total business (advances and deposits) grew 48 per cent to Rs 12,105-crore in FY10 from Rs 8,165-crore in FY09. "We are now aiming for a total business of Rs 20,000-crore this fiscal," Kabra said.

The bank's net interest margin (NIM) stood at 2.7 per cent, he said. Its current account, savings account (CASA) stood at 22 per cent and its NPAs slid from 1.99 per cent to 1.54 per cent.

Fee income rose 15 per cent to Rs 91 crore and Kabra said that the bank aimed to up its income from this revenue-stream by 100 per cent this fiscal. The bank's capital adequacy ratio (CAR) stood at 12.47 per cent as at end-FY10.