SBBJ's business crosses Rs 51,000 cr

The business of State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur (SBBJ) has crossed Rs 51,000 crore as at the end of September.

The deposits of the bank reached Rs 29,436 crore against Rs 24,325 crore at the end of September 2006. The advances of the bank stood at Rs 21,610 crore against Rs 18,228 crore at the end of September 2006.

SBBJ has posted a net profit of Rs 131.70 crore in the first half of the current financial year against Rs 125.39 crore during the corresponding period last year.

Total income from interest during the period was Rs1,520.53 crore against Rs 1,126.51 crore achieved in the year-ago period, showing a year-on-year growth of 35 per cent. The half-yearly (not annualised) earning per share for the face value of Rs 100 increased to Rs 263.40 as against Rs 250.78 last year.

Gross non performing assets (NPA) ratio and net NPA ratio of the bank was reported at 2.55 per cent and 1.22 per cent respectively.

The capital adequacy ratio of SBBJ stood at 13.30 per cent, well above the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) benchmark of 9 per cent. The bank is set to migrate to Basel-II framework by the end of the current financial year as per RBI guidelines.

The bank has launched a new initiative named "Parivartan" to bring about changes in the mindset of the employees for transformation of bank into a customer friendly, business-focused, modern and inclusive bank.

Several initiatives like relationship managers, grahak mitras (customer friends) and drop boxes have been launched at all major centres under the business process re-engineering (BPR) to pay greater attention to customers' requirements and satisfaction.

The bank has launched a number of central processing centres for speedy sanction of retail loans. A pension processing cell has been launched for centralised credit of pension.

The bank is also focusing on selling insurance products and mutual funds to augment its non-interest income.

The bank is marketing life insurance products of SBI Life. It has also launched a health insurance policy in collaboration with National Insurance Company.