Bank of Maharashtra to double business by March 2010

The public sector Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) has set a target of doubling its total business from Rs 55,000 crore expected to be achieved by the end of current fiscal to Rs 1,10,000 crore by March 2010.

The bank crossed the Rs 50,000-crore business target as on December 8. It has achieved a business volume of Rs 50,454 crore.

Chairman and managing director M D Mallya told reporters here on Saturday, "We will celebrate the platinum jubilee (75 years) of the bank in 2010, and to commemorate the event, we aim to double our business at a compounded annual growth of 25 per cent."

By end of fiscal 2009-10, the bank aims to have Rs 65,000 crore of deposits and Rs 45,000 crore of advances. At present it has a deposit base of Rs 29,839 crore and gross advances amounted to Rs 20,615 crore, he said. It is targeting a business volume of Rs 55,000 crore by the fiscal year-end.

Mallya said the bank also aims to recover Rs 300 crore of bad loans during the current fiscal and has effected cash recovery of Rs 119 crore in the first half of the year.

He said focus of the bank would be to raise low-cost deposits. The low-cost resources comprising CASA (Current and Savings Accounts) comprised 43.3 per cent of the bank's working funds. Itintends to raise CASA to 45 per cent this financial year.

The bank added 50 branches to its 1,321 branch network in the country. It has room for raising tier two capital for another Rs 350 crore, he said.

Mallya said the bank also plans to complete the first phase of roll out of core banking solution (CBS) in about 600 branches by December 2007, which will contribute 88 per cent of the bank's total business. By March 2007, it will implement CBS in 100 branches, he added.