AllBank net up 14% on credit push

Rising credit and better cost efficiency bolstered Allahabad Bank's net profit by 14.16 per cent to Rs 239.78 crore in the September 2007 quarter.

AC Mahajan, chairman and managing director, said: "We have recorded a credit growth of 16.70 per cent year-on-year and our target would be a growth of 20-24 per cent by the end of this fiscal."

"We have opened 7 lakh new accounts in the last three months and the primary focus area for credit disbursement would be agriculture, corporate sector, and the priority sector lending," he said. 
 

STRONG NUMBERS Performance for second quarter ended September
In Rs crore	Allahabad Bank
	2006	2007	% chg
Interest earned	1,145.75	1,535.71	34.04
Other income	122.08	128.58	5.32
PBT	243.23	299.56	23.16
Net profit	210.03	239.79	14.17
CAR (%)	13	13.01
NPM (%)	18.33	15.61

The bank's operating profit stood at Rs 588.42 crore, up 30.57 per cent from Rs 450.66 crore in the corresponding period last year. The bank posted a business growth of 6.9 per cent for the quarter to Rs 1,08,458 crore against Rs 90,477 crore in the corresponding period last year.

In the same period, total deposits went up to Rs 65,896 crore from Rs 54,006 crore in year ago period, a growth of 22.02 per cent (during April- September, 10.67 percent).

The CAR of the bank stood at 13.01 per cent. The net NPA was down from 1.07 per cent as on March 2007 to 0.75 per cent, which but remained steady compared to 0.75 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year.

On the proposed proposed non-life joint venture of Allahabad Bank and Sompo Japan Insurance in which there are three other entities - IOB, Karnataka Bank, and the Dabur group - as partners, Mahajan said the bank would be selling corresponding products by December 2007. However, he declined to divulge further details.

As per the new initiatives, the bank is exploring the idea to open overseas branches at Kenya and Bangladesh. It has already started CBS implementation, with 53 branches rolled over in CBS platform and by the end of FY08, the figure would reach 400 branches.