BoI Q4 net down 85% to Rs 53 cr

BS 200 SCORECARD

Bank of India posted a 85 per cent drop in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2005, at Rs 52.79 crore against Rs 349.10 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year.

The board of directors declared a final dividend of 10 per cent in addition to the interim dividend of 10 per cent paid earlier. For the full year, the net profit fell by 66 per cent to Rs 340.05 crore (Rs 1008.32 crore).

The operating profit fell by 35 per cent to Rs 1,460.36 crore (Rs 2,241.87 crore). The bank took a hit of Rs 528 crore as it shifted Rs 13,600 crore worth of government securities from the trading portfolio to the 'held to maturity' category in order to shield itself from rise in interest rates.

"We do not have the bumper profits we had last year. But we have de-risked the entire investment portfolio and reduced the bad loans through provisioning," said M Venugopalan, chairman & managing director of Bank of India, who will retire on Saturday.

Total income for the fourth quarter fell by 4 per cent to Rs 1,978.65 crore (Rs 2,059 crore). Total expenditure increased to Rs 1,650.94 crore (Rs 1,357.7 crore).

Net interest income in Q4 dropped by 15 per cent to Rs 483.63 crore (Rs 568.97 crore). Net interest income for the full year gained by a mere 1.6 per cent to Rs 2,237 crore (Rs 2,201 crore).