Standard Chartered Bank reported a 29.72 per cent decline in lower profit after tax to Rs 596 crore in fiscal 2004 against last year's Rs 848 crore, despite a 27 per cent growth in revenue at Rs 2,152 crore. The Indian operations accounted for 12 per cent of the global bank's profitability. |
StanChart's bottomline fell because of a one-off charge of Rs 157 crore related to the 1992 securities scam and the Rs 255 crore tax provision, Sanjeev Agrawal, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, StanChart, said. |
Last year Stanchart's tax provision was far lower at Rs 84 crore on account of tax losses that went in for appeal and were accepted. |
The bank has also invested significantly in infrastructure, people and information technology, which has added to overall expenses. This has been reflected in the marginal increase in cost income ratio at 36 per cent. |
According to the global bank's annual report 2003, costs rose by $15 million to $ 129 million as its distribution network expanded with additional branches in nine new cities in the country. |
StanChart, however, continues to be the most profitable foreign bank despite the fall in its bottomline. Citibank comes a close second with Rs 572 crore profit after tax. |
Deutsche Bank's bottomline rose by 60 per cent to Rs 272.6 crore, while that for HSBC stood at Rs 197.8 crore, a growth of 32 per cent. |
As the largest distributor of third-party products, both mutual funds and insurance policies, StanChart's fee-based income rose to Rs 411 crore in 2003-04 against Rs 356 crore in the preceding year. |
Forex income went up to Rs 223 crore (Rs 173 crore), while income from sale of securities more than doubled to Rs 64 crore from Rs 30 crore in 2002-03. |
In the current fiscal, StanChart will continue its retail focus with strong emphasis on the mid-market segment. Its investment into new business avenues like corporate advisory and commercial real estate are expected to pay off this year. |
"Growth of retail business was faster last year than wholesale business, and accounts for 45 per cent of total assets," said Agrawal. The asset value of the bank's retail portfolio today stands at around Rs 10,000 crore. |
Total assets stood at Rs 34,345 crore, with advances growing at 24 per cent to Rs 16,152 crore. Net non-performing assets are negligible at 0.52 per cent. |