Hugar'S Agenda

Hugars agenda

Corporation Banks new chief plans a venture into housing finance, a novel deposit scheme and a public issue.

R S Hugar must be a happy man. The Mangalore-based Corporation Bank, of which he is chairman and managing director, was the first among nationalised banks to announce the annual results last week. For 1996-97, the bank has recorded a profit of Rs 125 crore, a jump of 19.5 per cent over the previous year. Deposits were 28.5 per cent higher at Rs 6600 crore, and outstanding advances were up by 23.5 per cent at Rs 3,015 crore. Capital adequacy ratio at 11.3 per cent was much higher than 8 per cent prescribed by the RBI, but the bank reduced its capital during the year by returning a part of its capital to the government.

 

The excellent results have been achieved through a stringent monitoring of asset-liability ratio, says Hugar.

Among its plans, the bank is planning to make a foray into new areas in the current year. A housing finance company is on the cards and the bank is planning to introducing a new deposit scheme that will have the features of current, savings and fixed deposits--a three-in-one -- which will be one up on the fixed-deposit-cum-savings-bank accounts that foreign banks offer. This facility will be offered to high-value clients, says Hugar.

Besides, the cash management service in which Corporation Bank is leader, will be extended to traders this year. And the bank is planning a public issue around September. It aims to offer 3.8 crore equity shares at a premium of Rs 60 per share.

Though Hugar has been the person to announce the Corporation Banks good results, he can not really take credit for them because he took over as CMD only on April 1, 1997. And Hugar readily admits it. His leadership will be tested now when the various plans get off the ground.