Date:09/08/2005 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/08/09/stories/2005080901570600.htm

Back Indian Bank Q1 net rises to Rs 137 cr

Our Bureau

Chennai , Aug. 8

INDIAN Bank has reported a net profit of Rs 136.57 crore for the first quarter of the current financial year, compared with Rs 118.13 crore in the same period last year - an increase of 15.6 per cent.

Total business grew 5.3 per cent over the same quarter last year, to Rs 2,843 crore. Net advances increased 33 per cent to Rs 4,842 crore and deposits by 4.89 per cent to Rs 1,703 crore.

Indian Bank's capital adequacy ratio stands at 13.68 per cent. The bank also recovered Rs 70 crore from delinquent accounts.

In a press release, the bank said that its core-banking solution will be adopted in 500 branches by March 2006.

Tie-up with SIDBI: Indian Bank has tied up with Small Industries Development Bank of India for joint financing of small and medium enterprises.

Announcing the tie-up, the bank's Chairman and Managing Director, Dr K.C. Chakrabarty, observed that some part of any bank's loans were bound to turn non-performing, by the very nature of business.

He called for a credit insurance mechanism, by which risks of default could be borne by all participants in the financial system.

Later, speaking to Business Line, he said that banks have always had risk management systems, but they needed to be beefed up now, in line with the changes in the economy.

"If you do not manage risk, risk will manage you," he said.