Fifteen Listed Pvt Banks Post 200% Profit Rise

Fifteen listed private banks have reported a 200 per cent jump in aggregate net profit to Rs 423.96 crore during the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2002, from Rs 140.87 crore in the corresponding previous period.

There are a total 20 private banks listed on the bourses. Five have not declared their numbers yet.

Meanwhile, the old private banks seem to be cruising on the profit path with the aggregate net profit of nine of them rising a staggering 2,340 per cent from Rs 8.77 crore to Rs 214.02 crore.

Among these, Nedungadi Bank pruned its net loss to Rs 5.76 crore from Rs 79.92 crore, while United Western Bank reported a net profit of Rs 12.23 crore against a net loss of Rs 40.77 crore.

The excellent results in the fourth quarter have been backed by an increase in spread (interest earned minus interest expended) and a hefty rise in other income.

The rise in interest expenditure was lower than the interest earned. The rise in spread indicates that banks were able to raise deposits at much lower rates. The handsome growth in other income shows better treasury management by the banks.

For the 15 listed banks, the spread increased by 27.5 per cent to Rs 940.92 crore (Rs 738.09 crore).

Interest earned clambered 23.6 per cent to Rs 3,371.98 crore, whereas interest expended surged by 22.2 per cent at Rs 2,431.06 crore.

Other income showed a sharp rise of 93.8 per cent to Rs 1,039.02 crore from Rs 536.06 crore. Provision and contingencies stood at Rs 547.13 crore, up 19.7 per cent.

The old private banks, however, reported lower growth in interest earned compared with new private banks. Their interest earned edged up 10.58 per cent while new banks reported a 37.03 per cent rise in the same.

The net profit of old private banks was lifted mainly by the 116.04 per cent rise in other income and a lower 9.12 per cent rise in interest expenditure.

Provision and contingencies of these banks was up 12.94 per cent compared with a 27.89 per cent increase for new private banks.

Karur Vysya Bank outperformed with a 122.6 per cent rise in net profit on the back of 31.63 per cent rise in interest earned.

J&K Bank was second with a 96.9 per cent rise in net profit, followed by City Union Bank at 95.7 per cent, South Indian Bank at 63.7 per cent, UTI Bank at 50.6 per cent, HDFC Bank at 37.7 per cent, Lakshmi Vilas Bank at 34.8 per cent and ICICI Bank at 12.9 per cent.

Banks which had less than double-digit growth in net profit were Federal Bank with 6.5 per cent, IDBI Bank with 4.0 per cent and Vysya Bank with 1.5 per cent.