Vijaya Bank Q4 net at Rs 64cr

Vijaya Bank today reported a net profit of Rs 63.65 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2007 when compared with a net loss of Rs 34.53 crore in the corresponding period of the last fiscal.

The turnaround has been made possible partially by a writeback of Rs 48.3 crore provided for taxes. The bank also benefited from lower provisioning for non-performing assets and higher interest income on advances, which grew 48% to Rs 513 crore. The bank made a provision of only Rs 58 crore during the quarter towards NPAs when compared with Rs 100 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal.

The bank's total income for the fourth quarter went up 32% to Rs 888.17 crore.

For the full year 2006-07, the bank reported a 161.14% increase in net profit at Rs 331.34 crore. Total income increased 19.35% to Rs 3,097.90 crore.

Prakash Mallya, chairman and managing director, Vijaya Bank said: "The last financial year was an unprecedented year of growth for us mainly on account of volume growth in advances, higher interest income and better cash recovery."

Interest income from advances increased 31% cent to Rs 1,763.71 crore. Return on assets for the year improved to 0.92% compared to 0.45% in the previous year.

Capital adequacy ratio fell to 11.21% in 2006-07 from 11.94% in the previous year. The bank is planning to augment its lower tier-II capital by raising Rs 200 crore by June this year, Mallya said.