Indian Bank Q3 Net falls 20% to Rs 264.50 cr

State-run lender Indian Bank today reported 19.9 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 264.50 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2013, due to provisioning mainly for pension funds.
The Chennai-headquartered bank had a net profit of Rs 330.58 crore during the same period of the previous fiscal.
Total income of the bank during the quarter grew to Rs 4,112.33 crore from Rs 3,786.68 crore for the same period a year earlier.
Global business of the bank during the quarter under review rose to Rs 2.70 lakh crore from Rs 2.35 lakh crore a year earlier, Indian Bank Chairman & Managing Director T M Bhasin said.

Total deposits stood at Rs 1,57,558 crore while the gross advances of the bank grew to 1,12,241 crore during the period.
Bhasin attributed the decline in net profit to pension funds provisioning for about Rs 80 crore during the third quarter ending December 31, 2013.

Besides, the bank has been allotting Rs 10 crore towards wage revision and till date Rs 140 crore has been made for it, he added.
Asked on the bank's proposal to introduce insurance products at its branches, Bhasin said the bank has already initiated discussions with some insurance companies and would roll out the new joint venture soon.

On the outlook for current financial year, he said, "We are on target. We have planned to close the financial year by taking the total business of the bank to Rs 3 lakh crore."
Bhasin further said the bank was planning to open 108 new branches in the country and three branches in Sri Lanka by next month.
He said immediate focus of the bank was to reduce the NPA and to improve the asset quality. Gross NPA for the third quarter increased to 3.42 per cent from 3.18 per cent registered in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Net NPA stood at 2.25 per cent for the third quarter as against 2.17 per cent in the year-ago period.
Shares of the bank closed at Rs 108.70 apiece, up by 2.07 per cent on the BSE.