Uti Bank Q3 Net Up 55% To Rs 35 Crore

After buying out assets from ICICI, IFCI and others, UTI Bank is looking at increasing its income stream, in particular, its fee-based income. The bank has posted a sharp 55.28 per cent rise in net profit for the third quarter (Q3) ended December 2001 to Rs 35.76 crore against Rs 23.03 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.

For the nine months ended December, the bank's net profit had increased by 58.21 per cent to Rs 92.08 crore (Rs 58.20 crore).

UTI Bank chairman and managing director P J Nayak said, "We are looking at deepening our income streams from the assets we had bought in the last quarter. We will take on new relationships in these accounts so that we can broaden our relationships."

The bank had purchased more than Rs 1,200 crore of assets in the last quarter including Rs 927 crore from ICICI and Rs 198 crore from IFCI.

Nayak said, "The net interest income for the first nine months of was at Rs 118.08 crore, which is more than the total net interest income of the previous full year which was at Rs 98 crore."

The rise in profit is despite a substantial increase in provisions and contingencies to Rs 47.51 crore from Rs 2.91 crore for the third quarter.

Total income of the bank for third quarter increased by 48.2 per cent to Rs 394.04 crore from Rs.265.85 crore. The other income for the period showed a sharp increase from Rs 28.30 crore to Rs 104.30 crore.

The total deposits as on December 2001 increased by 24.82 per cent to Rs 10,275 crore (Rs 8,232 crore), while savings deposits increased by 66.23 per cent for the period to Rs 763 crore (Rs 459 crore). Advances increased by 27.56 per cent from Rs 4,292 crore to Rs 5,475 crore as on 31st December 2001.

The bank currently has 128 branches and extension counters and 433 ATMs. Nayak said the bank will be looking at increasing its branches and extension counters to 150 and ATM network to 500 by the end of the year.

Donald Peck and Paul Fletcher, nominees of the South Asia Regional Fund and CDC Financial Services (Mauritius) Ltd. respectively, which are funds managed by CDC Capital Partners Ltd, were inducted onto the bank board. These two funds had picked up 26.01 per cent stake in the bank at Rs 157.59 crore. With this the paid-up share capital of the bank increased to Rs 178.25 crore from Rs 131.90 crore.