UCO Bank net profit rises to Rs 165 crore

Kolkata: UCO Bank has recorded significant improvement in performance on all fronts in the financial year 2001-02. UCO Bank chairman and managing director V P Shetty says the net profit during the year amounted to Rs 165 crore as compared to Rs 33 crore in 2000-01 and the operating profit stood at Rs 476 crore (Rs 214 crore), registering a growth of 122 per cent.

The total business at more than Rs 40,000 crore posted a growth of about 25 per cent. The net profit could have been still higher but for the additional provisions of Rs 145 crore made towards the voluntary retirement scheme and salary arrear payments. Shetty attributes the improvement to several factors the most important being the trading profit, amounting to Rs 335 crore (Rs 73 crore).

Among other factors were: rise in the net interest income to Rs 730 crore (Rs 662 crore); rise in profits from foreign exchange operations to Rs 25 crore (Rs 17 crore); volume growth in business to the tune of Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 5,600 crore); growth in low-cost deposits to 18 per cent (14.34 per cent); reduction in net non-performing assets to 5.45 per cent (6.35 per cent); reduction in staff cost (in terms of percentage of average working fund) to 2.5 per cent (2.64 per cent); reduction in cost of deposit to 6.74 (7.35 per cent); and improvement in the capital adequacy ratio to 9.64 per cent (9.05 per cent). The number of loss-making branches, too, had been reduced to 300 from the earlier 800, while business per employee and business per branch increased. The total deposits increased to Rs 26,849 crore, showing a growth of 24.7 per cent; total advances to Rs 13,402 crore (a growth of 25.2 per cent); and investment to Rs 12,343 crore (a rise of 13.4 per cent).