18 october 2003

pnb gilts h1 net up 327 pc at rs 86 crore
new delhi: pnb gilts has posted a net profit of rs 86.32 crore for the first half of the current fiscal, a 327 per cent increase over the previous year. the company, which saw turnover rise by 173.01 per cent to touch rs 71,245 crore, has declared an interim dividend of 12 per cent.

speaking to newspersons, i.d singh, managing director, said: "the prevailing market conditions and good liquidity have led to an increase in both net profit and turnover." he added that 30 per cent of the turnover had come from the retail segment which includes co-operative banks, regional rural banks (rrbs) and corporates. the total income also increased by 140 per cent to rs 174.94 crore against rs 72.67 per cent the previous year. currently, the primary dealer (pd) has 3.5 per cent share of the gilts market. in order to grow, the company is planning to expand its retail segment. under existing regulations, rrbs can deal only through sponsor banks. "we have written to the reserve bank of india (rbi) asking to change this and permit them to deal directly with the pds," singh said. however, individual investors continued to stay away from the g-secs segment. punjab national bank (pnb), the parent of pnb gilts, is also planning to divest its stake in company. according to existing norms, pnb has to bring down its stake to 49 per cent from 78 per cent. the company has already secured clearances from the rbi and the finance ministry. pnb gilts is in talks with various players and could induct a foreign partner as well. singh, however, refused to divulge names of prospective partners. on the forthcoming credit policy, he said that he expected a further cut in the bank rate and the crr.

uti bank net up 45 pc on retail growth in q2
mumbai: buoyed by increasing retail business, uti bank has registered a 45.3 per cent in net profit for the second quarter ended september 30 at rs 64.18 crore, up from rs 44.17 crore in the corresponding previous period. total income increased to rs 390.77 crore (rs 363.29 crore) and total expenditure decreased to rs 362.78 crore (rs 376.23 crore). retail banking revenue rose by 33.6 per cent to rs 203.96 crore (rs 152.65 crore). retail asset book increased to rs 1,405 crore from rs 1,217 crore in june 2003. over the last one year, the bank has set up specialised single-product outfits called `retail asset centres' in the top six cities, which pushed home loans and personal loans. according to the segmental results, corporate banking revenue was lower at rs 484.51 crore (rs 508.35 crore) with loans going at lower interest rates in the intensely competitive market. the bank still remains largely a corporate bank with 81 per cent of its total assets constituting the corporate book. other income increased to rs 149.82 crore (rs 118.37 crore) with increase in the fee income component in the merchant banking and retail banking business. the loan syndication, project advisory and trusteeship of debentures in merchant banking and atm interchange fees on the retail front were the main drivers of growth, dr p.j. nayak, cmd, said. but figures on the same were not readily available. the bank's net interest margin rose to 2.96 per cent from 2.71 per cent in the first quarter of the current year and cost of funds decreased to 5.80 per cent from 6.35 per cent. uti bank, which adopted the 90-day norm for recognition of non-performing assets at the start of this fiscal, has a net npas ratio at 1.97 per cent compared to 2.46 per cent at end-june 2003. provisions and contingencies decreased in the second quarter to rs 69.24 crore from rs 91.71 crore from the first quarter.

hdfc bank told to withhold recovery from s&s power
new delhi: hdfc bank has been restrained from executing the recovery certificate, obtained from the debt recovery tribunal (drt) against s&s power switchgear ltd (sspsl), by the board for industrial and financial reconstruction (bifr). the bifr bench while reserving its order on sickness of s&s power switchgear, manufacturers of power switchgears, said, "hdfc bank was not permitted at this stage to execute the recovery certificate obtained by them." the bench in its recent order observed that indian bank, bank of baroda (bob), central bank of india (cbi), hdfc bank, idbi and icici bank, had reiterated their objections to the sickness of the company on grounds of diversion of funds and write-off, provisioning for bad debts and lease rentals.