South Indian Bank eyes Rs 88,000-cr business this financial year

Says times tough; of Rs 5,000 crore loans sanctioned to corporates in last 6 months only 35% has been availed

Private sector lender Kerala-based South Indian Bank (SIB) said on Tuesday it hoped its total business during the ongoing financial year would touch Rs 88,000 crore and net profit, Rs 600 crore. In FY13, total business was Rs 76,000 crore, while net profit stood at Rs 505 crore.

Inaugurating the regional office of SIB in Gujarat, Amitabha Guha, SIB’s non-executive chairman, said: “Our total business during 2012-13 was Rs 76,000 crore with a net profit of Rs 502 crore. So far this financial year, we have clocked 10 per cent year-on-year growth during the first quarter, and expect to clock 20-25 per cent growth during the second quarter of the financial year. As for March 2014, our target is Rs 88,000 crore of total business and a net profit of around Rs 600 crore.”

Earlier this year, SIB's managing director and CEO V A Joseph had said the bank hoped to cross Rs 1 lakh crore business during the financial year. Guha, however, admitted that times were tough. “Of the Rs 5,000 crore worth of loans sanctioned to corporates during the last six months, only 35 per cent has been availed so far,” he said, indicating that the business environment was tough.

The bank, however, has its growth plans on track. It plans to expand its branch network from 775 at present to 800 by the end of March 2014, apart from taking its ATM network to 1,000 from the current 830. SIB has done reasonably well on the non-performing asset (NPA) front as well. Guha said, “As on June 30, our gross NPA is around 1.36 per cent compared to the industry average of 2.6-2.7 per cent.”

Housing loans have picked up significantly for SIB during the financial year. “We have slashed our home loan rates from 11.5 per cent last year to 10.5 per cent this year. As a result, there has been more demand for home loans, and the portfolio has grown by 50 per cent during the first half of this fiscal. This year so far, our home loans stand at Rs 500 crore, while the overall home loan portfolio is around Rs 1,500 crore,” informed Abraham Thariyan, executive director, SIB. The bank’s net loan book stood at Rs 32,000 crore as on March 2013, and gold loans constitute 21 per cent of that.

The banks plans to open four new branches in Gujarat in FY14, taking the total count to 21 branches. In the last financial year, the total business from the region stood at Rs 750 crore.