Dena Bank Net Up 44% To Rs 105 Cr

Dena Bank has recorded a 44.07 per cent growth in net profits, from Rs 72.91 crore to Rs 105.04 crore, for the financial year 1997-98. The board has proposed a dividend of 15 per cent against 12 per cent announced in the previous year.

The bank's operating profits have grown by 41.01 per cent to Rs 274 crore. Interest income amounted to Rs 1,216.42 crore, while non-interest income yielded Rs 184 crore. Of this, profit from sale of investments was Rs 60 crore and from foreign exchange transactions Rs 19 crore.

The bank has marked-to-market 88.4 per cent of its investment portfolio against 70.16 per cent in the previous year.

The Rs 36 crore appreciation in the value of its portfolio has been used for marking to market and has not been taken into net profits, said Ramesh Misra, chairman and managing director of Dena Bank. Provisions and contingencies were higher at Rs 168.57 crore compared to Rs 121.13 crore in 1996-97, of which around Rs 60 crore has been provisioned against non-performing assets (NPAs).

While the bank's NPAs have increased in absolute terms, there has been a fall in the percentage of net NPAs from 9.38 per cent to 8.28 per cent. There has been a write off of Rs 67 crore for the financial year, against Rs 59 crore in the previous year.

There has been a fall in spreads from 4.39 per cent to 3.97 per cent. The bank's capital adequacy ratio has improved from 10.81 per cent to 11.88 per cent. Advances have grown by 27.29 per cent to Rs 5,147 crore and deposits by 28.67 per cent to Rs 10,115 crore. Investments were higher by 23.72 per cent to Rs 4,601 crore.

Reserves and surpluses are also up from Rs 295.58 crore to Rs 339 crore.

In the housing finance business, the bank's business volume increased from 121 crore to Rs 290 crore. The bank has recently cut housing finance rates by 50 basis points.

Dena Bank had met the eligibility criteria to become autonomous on all four counts of minimum capital prescription of Rs 100 crore, net NPA not exceeding 9 per cent, successive three years of profitability and a minimum CAR of 8 per cent, said Misra.

The bank was targeting a 20 per cent growth in deposits and 18.7 per cent growth in advances for the year 1998-99.

It was also planning to launch its own credit card in association with Visa International and had applied to the RBI for a license in gold trading, he said.