Allahabad Bank eyes 20% growth in FY10

Kolkata-based Allahabad bank is expecting more than 20 per cent growth in business for the financial year 2009-10. The bank was aiming to achieve a total business of Rs 1.75 lakh crore by March 2010, as against Rs 1.44 lakh crore in March 2009, said Chairman and Managing Director K R Kamath on the sidelines of a press conference in Kolkata today, where it was launching the retail sales of gold coins at the bank.

By 2010, the bank expects to achieve a business target of Rs 2 lakh crore. Last financial year, the bank achieved an 18 per cent growth in deposits and advances, he added. Of the Rs 1.44 lakh crore business last fiscal, deposits comprised Rs 84,865 crore, and advances Rs 59,177 crore. The bank hopes to boost its fee-based income by wholesale as well as retail sale of gold.

 

By May, the bank intends to relaunch bullion business in Mumbai and Ahmedabad initially, which includes importing gold and selling it in the domestic market. On the retail side, the bank will initially sell gold coins in the denomination of four, eight and 10 grams, in select core banking solutions branches of the bank.

The bank has also been selected by the pension regulatory and development authority (PRFDA) to provide public investment services under the new pension scheme with effect from May 1, 2009. “The economy has been showing signs of improvement in the last two months. Credit offtake is picking up in sectors such as power and infrastructure,” Kamath said.