SBT posts Rs 237 crore net profit

The Thiruvananthapuram-headquartered State Bank of Travancore (SBT) posted a net profit of Rs 236.91 crore for the nine months ended December 2007, up by 27.49 per cent, compared with Rs 185.82 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

The increase is mainly on account of a robust year-on-year growth of 27.17 per cent in non-interest income.

The bank's total income grew by 30.95 per cent year-on-year to touch Rs 2811.84 crore, as against Rs 2147.22 crore in the three quarters of 2007-08.

The interest income went up by 31.40 per cent to Rs 2,522 crore from Rs 1919.31 crore, whereas non-interest income touched Rs 289.84 crore from Rs 227.91 crore a year back.

The total business exceeded Rs 60,000 crore to touch Rs 61,241 crore at the end of December 2007 from Rs 53,644 crore at the end of December 2006.

SBT's deposit base registered a year-on-year growth of 9.58 per cent to Rs 33,160 crore, with personal deposits accounting for 62.79 per cent.

Total advances stood at Rs 28,164 crore, registering a year-on-year growth of 20.06 per cent over December 2006, the bank pointed out.

The priority sector lending grew by 39.34 per cent on a yearly basis to touch Rs 12,964 crore. The percentage of priority sector advances to total advances is 46.03 per cent against the benchmark of 40 per cent.

The bank said that its capital to risk adjusted assets ratio (CRAR) rose to 13 per cent as on December 2007 from 11.68 per cent in March 07, against the regulatory benchmark of 9 per cent.

Its gross NPA percentage declined to 2.14 per cent of gross advances from 2.47 per cent as on December 2006 and 2.16 per cent from March 2007. The net NPA percentage declined to 0.97 per cent from 1.26 per cent as on December 31, 2006 and 1.08 per cent as on March 2007.