Interest Spread Drooped For Twenty Banks

The interest spread of 20 public sector banks, out of the total 27, have dipped during fiscal 2001-02. The seven banks whose interest spread rose are State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, Andhra Bank, Dena Bank, Indian Bank, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Uco Bank and United Bank of India.

As on March 31, 2002, State Bank of Patiala has the highest spread of 4.37 per cent. It is closely followed by Oriental Bank of Commerce with a spread of 4.10 per cent. State Bank of Travancore has the lowest spread at 2.01 per cent.

The largest public sector bank State Bank of India (SBI) enjoyed a spread of 2.62 per cent in 2001-02, as against 3.02 per cent in the earlier fiscal. The spread of Bank of India, however, remained little changed at 2.83 per cent as against 2.84 in 2000-01. For Bank of Baroda, the spread in 2001-02 was 40 basis points down to 2.75 per cent as against 3.15 per cent in the previous fiscal.

The average cost of fund has dropped for all the public sector banks except three -- Canara Bank, Indian Bank and Syndicate Bank. For Indian Bank, the average cost of fund remained unchanged at 7.11 per cent. For Canara Bank, the average cost went up by 18 basis points to 6.63 per cent, while for Syndicate Bank it increased from 5.99 per cent to 6.11 per cent. State Bank of Patiala had the lowest cost of fund at 5.64 per cent, while it was highest for State Bank of Travancore at 8.11 per cent.

The average yield on funds deployed were up for only three PSBs -- Indian Bank, Punjab and Sind Bank and Syndicate Bank, while for all the other 24 public sector banks it came down. The average yield is highest for Oriental Bank of Commerce at 12 per cent and is lowest for Bank of Maharashtra at 8.63 per cent.