Tata group may absorb Indian Bank's MF subsidiary

By Our Staff Reporter

TIRUCHI, SEPT. 2. Indian Bank would be hiving off all its subsidiaries and talks are at an advanced stage with a Tata group firm, which has shown interest in taking over the bank's mutual fund arm, according to the Indian Bank Chairperson and Managing Director, Mrs. Ranjana Kumar. The deal might be clinched in the next three months, she said on Saturday last.

Ind Bank Housing, another subsidiary, would be retained by the bank itself as housing was considered a healthy portfolio and in which the bank already had a rich experience. As regards the merchant banking division, she indicated scouting was on and many institutions had evinced interest.

Claiming that the performance during the first quarter of this year was good, Mrs. Kumar said the bank had netted a gross profit of Rs. 35 crores against Rs. 61 crores for the whole of last year. About 40 per cent of the priority sector lending had been met and 18 per cent of annual target on the agricultural loan had been met in Q1 itself.

While the bank's NPA stood at 11 per cent, she said there was enough scope for improvement on that front. Recovery of outstanding was Rs. 489 crores last year and after implementation of the RBI's special package, a further Rs. 190 crores had been recovered.

Mrs. Kumar, who commissioned the inter-city online connectivity of the bank's ATMs between Tiruchi and Chennai, said there were 66 ATMs as of now and they would be increased to 76 soon. All the 76 would be interlinked through V-SAT before March 2002, she said. The arrangement would be extended to Madurai, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli soon, she said.

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