Idbi Bank Plans To Unveil 13 Branches By Year-End

IDBI Bank plans to open 13 branches by the end of the current fiscal. The bank already has seven branches in operation.

While the Bangalore branch will commence operation on April 9, the branches at Ahmedabad, Delhi, Calcutta and Baroda will be opened by the end of July. The bank also plans to set up branches in Jamshedpur, Lucknow and Jaipur and five satellite branches in different parts of the country.

IDBI Bank, which completed its first full year of operations on March 31 1997, expects to post a net profit of Rs 15 crore for the year before writing off pre-operative expenses. The net profit after this is expected to stand at around Rs 8 crore.

The bank has, meanwhile, fallen short of its advances target for the year 1996-97. While the bank had targeted advances of Rs 500 crore, it has ended the year with only Rs 430 crore. This is because credit offtake on the whole during the year was very poor, said Deepak Mukherjee, managing director of IDBI Bank.

Deposits on the other hand was much higher at Rs 400 crore against the targeted figure of Rs 250 crore. However, deposits were increased mainly through certificates of deposit which was 25 per cent of the total deposits at the end of the year.

IDBI Bank has the lowest prime lending rate (PLR) among the private sector banks at 16.5 per cent. While the average cost of its public deposits is 11 per cent, the banks average spread works out to 3.5 per cent.

The bank also plans to start a full-fledged corporate advisory services wing this year which will provide advisory services even to parties who do not bank with it. At present these services are available only to its clients.

IDBI Bank, in which IDBI holds an 80 per cent stake, does not have plans to come out with an issue immediately.