Syndicate Bank posts Rs 78 cr loss

BS 200 SCORECARD

Syndicate Bank has reported a net loss of Rs 78.11 crore for the third quarter of 2004-05 against a net profit of Rs 89 crore for the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal.

This loss has resulted from providing Rs 382.06 crore for depreciation consequent upon shifting certain government securities from available for sale category to held to maturity category.

However, the operating profit of the bank has grown 3.4 per cent to Rs 227.17 crore for Q3 FY05 compared to Q3FY04. The net interest income has moved upto 15 per cent to Rs 376.5 in Q3FY05 compared to Q3FY04. The bank's net NPA has come down sharply to 2.52 per cent for third quarter of FY05 from 4.55 per cent during Q3FY05.

Said N Kantha Kumar who recently took over as CMD, Syndicate Bank: "The decline in the margin is owing to an one-time provision on securities transferred to hold to maturity category as our exposure to government securities is high. However, our global business for the nine months of the current fiscal has touched Rs 70,163 crore, a 27.48 per cent growth on the corresponding period of 2003-04."

Domestic deposits at Rs 42,014 crore have shown an increase of 22.34 per cent for the nine months against the corresponding period. Domestic advances at Rs 22,252 crore has recorded an all-time high growth of 37.77 per cent over the corresponding quarter.

Retail credit constitutes 25.84 per cent of the total credit. The bank's agriculture portfolio has grown 39 per cent to touch Rs 3,781 crore.