Timesbank Pbt Forecast At Rs 30 Crore

Times Bank Ltd has projected a profit before tax (PBT) of Rs 30 crore for the year 1996-97. The bank posted a PBT of Rs 10.50 crore and profit after tax of Rs 7.5 crore for the seven-month accounting period ended March 31, 1996.

The banks current deposit base stands at Rs 1,157 crore, while advances amount to Rs 900 crore indicating a credit-deposit ratio of nearly 78 per cent against the banking industry average of 60 per cent.

Certificates of deposit account for nearly 20 per cent (Rs 230 crore) of the banks total deposits. This is, however, lower than the previous year when it had certificates of deposit amounting to 50 per cent of its total deposits. A senior executive at the bank told Business Standard that the bank would try and bring this down to 10 per cent by the end of the next fiscal.

TimesBank, which is 100 per cent owned by Bennett Coleman, may tap the capital market in 1998-99 to hike its equity base and thereby reduce the stake of the promoters to 40 per cent as per the RBI norms.

A decision on the size of the issue will be taken based on the capital adequacy requirements of the bank.

Its capital adequacy ratio now stands at 24 per cent, which is higher than RBIs minimum stipulation of 8 per cent.