Kanakamahalakshmi plans 4 more branches

Vizag-based Kanakam-ahalakshmi Cooperative Bank Limited is planning to open four more branches over the next three to four years in Visakhapatnam.

The bank currently has only one branch in the city at Akkayyapalem. Speaking to mediapersons here on Saturday, P Raghunadha Rao, chairman, Kanakamahalakshmi Cooperative Bank, said that the bank will open its second branch at Gopalapatnam by the end of this fiscal.

"We want to expand our presence by opening one branch every year in the city," he said.

The cooperative bank recorded a net profit of about Rs 41.80 lakh in the fiscal ended March 31, 2005, as compared to Rs 61.85 lakh in 2003-04.

Though profits were down, the bank is planning to pay 15 per cent dividend, same as last year's.

Last fiscal, the bank's total deposits slipped marginally to Rs 26.75 crore as compared to Rs 26.88 crore in the previous year.

Advances, however, increased to Rs 18.52 crore from Rs 16.63 crore in 2003-04.

"During last fiscal, we reduced our non-performing assets (NPAs) to 4.12 per cent from 5.49 per cent in March 2004. In the current year, we are aiming to further reduce our NPAs," he said.

The memorandum of understanding between the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the state government on urban cooperative banks has given a boost to the urban cooperative banks here.

"We are targeting to collect at least Rs 4-5 crore new deposits," Rao said.

To create awareness among the public on urban cooperative banks, the Andhra Pradesh State Cooperative Urban Banks Federation Limited (APSCUBF) and the Andhra Pradesh State Cooperative Union are jointly organising a state-level 'Cooperatives conference-2005' on July 16-17 at Hyderabad.