No negative surprises in Dec earnings: Dena Bank chief

Dena Bank’s newly-appointed head Ashwani Kumar on Tuesday said investors should not look forward to any negative surprises in its forthcoming results due to the leadership change at the bank. He said, “It is not that we are interested in showing more NPAs or anything...They (investors) should not expect any shocks on account of the change in the leadership.”

Kumar took over as chairman and managing director on January 1.

He further said there are no “hidden non-performing assets” or any other issues with the bank and stressed that there is “continuity in the leadership”.

The bank is scheduled to declare its December quarter earnings on January 30.

In the past, there have been multiple cases of newer leaderships opting to prune the books of state-run banks, showing an increase in NPAs or making extra provisions, and thus shaving off bottomlines, on assuming charge.

The most notable case was when Pratip Chaudhuri took over the reigns at the country’s largest lender State Bank from his predecessor Om Prakash Bhatt, and declared the bank’s worst quarterly numbers at Rs 21 crore for the March 2011 quarter from the average of Rs 1,500 crore during Bhatt’s tenure, allegedly by under-provisioning.

Kumar, who joined from the Mangalore-headquartered Corporation Bank, said Dena Bank was one of the biggest banks at the time of nationalisation in 1969 and he will focus on “regaining the past glory of the bank” during his tenure.