South Indian Bank net profit up by 40%

Kerala-based South Indian Bank has registered a 40.43 per cent growth in net profit of Rs 72.57 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2009 as against Rs 51.68 crore in the corresponding previous quarter.

"This is the highest ever quarterly net profit for the bank. The total business of the bank increased by Rs 6,263 crore from Rs 26,836 crore to Rs 33,099 crore on year-on-year basis, recording a growth of 23.34 per cent", VA Joseph, managing director and chief executive officer, South Indian Bank said during a press conference in Ahmedabad.

The bank has earned a total income of Rs 1,055.62 crore during the first six months as against Rs 844.99 crore for the previous year. While the deposits have gone up by Rs 3,973 crore, the advances have increased by Rs 2,290 crore. The Current Accounts and Savings Accounts (CASA) of the bank has increased by Rs 791 crore from Rs 3,985 crore to Rs 4,776 crore.

The net interest margin of the bank stood at 3.12 per cent for the first six months of the current year as against 2.69 per cent for the corresponding period of previous year. The bank is in the process of raising resources by way of issue of certificate of deposits to further strengthen the interest spread

The bank had raised Tier II capital by way of subordinated Lower Tier-II bonds during the current quarter, aggregating to Rs 200 crore. The bank is planning to open 20 more branches during the next two quarters to take the total number of branches to 575, Joseph added.