SOUTH INDIAN BANK’s Q2 NET SURGES BY 45%

South Indian Bank(SIB) has recorded a rise of 44.80% in net profit to Rs.51.68 crore for the second quarter of current financial year as against Rs.35.69 crore for the previous year. The bank has reported, during the slack season of the first half, a net profit of Rs 90.30 crore (the net profit target for this fiscal being Rs 190.00 crore) against Rs 66.06 crore while its net income rose to Rs 845.97 crore.With the advantage of 100% branches covered by Core Banking Solution, South Indian Bank is the first bank in the peer group to announce Q2 results for the financial year 2008 - 2009.

The total business of the bank has increased by Rs.3,758 crore from Rs. 23,078 crore to Rs. 26,836 crore on year-to-year basis registering a growth of 16.28% . While the deposits has gone up by Rs.1783 crore from Rs.13,932 crore to Rs.15,715 crore registering a growth of 12.80%, the advances has increased by Rs.1,974 crore from Rs.9,147 crore to Rs.11,121 crore registering a growth of 21.58%. The bank earned a total income of Rs.440.08 crore during the quarter as against Rs.345.82 crore for the previous year registering a growth of 27.25 %.
Net non-performing assets (NPA) was lower at 0.40 per cent as against 0.71 per cent for September, 2007, while gross NPA was 1.86 per cent compared with 3.41 per cent for September, 2007.
Addressing the press ,Dr.V.A.Joseph,Managing Director & CEO of the bank said,”There has been a robust growth in our Current Account and Savings Account(CASA) portfolio and this has helped us in reducing the cost of our funds. Low Cost Deposits of the bank has increased by Rs.804 crore from Rs 3181 crore to Rs 3985 crore registering a growth of 25.29 %. Our focus during the current financial year is to increase the CASA funds by adding 5 lakhs new customers .For achieving this target the bank has recently launched another convenience banking product ,“GROUP SALARY SAVINGS ACCOUNT” (GSSA) which is a premium savings bank product designed to meet the needs of salaried employees and their employers. The focus of the bank also is to increase non-interest income by sale of mutual funds and insurance products. With ‘SIB Junior’ which is a product launched to inculcate the savings habit among the children, the Bank is targeting schools and colleges in the country ”.
The capital adequacy ratio of the bank is as high as 14.44 % against the RBI prescribed minimum requirement of 9 %. During the quarter, the Book value per share has increased from Rs.123.34 to Rs.138.42.
The bank had declared a dividend of 30% for the financial year 2007-08, which is the highest in the history of the bank. The Board of Directors had fixed the record date as 17th October 2008 for issue of Bonus Shares-the first in the 79 -year history of the Bank- in the ratio of 1 share for every 4 shares held on that date.
The Bank has already opened 20 branches during the first half of this fiscal to take the total number of branches to 520 , Extension Counters 17 and ATM Centres 252.The Bank also proposes to open another 40 branches during the next 12 months so that the bank would have a CBS branch network of 560 branches This would expand the SIB footprint to 26 States and union territories in India..
For the NRI segment who account for 20% of the deposits the bank has launched a new product “NRE Privilege- Diamond .

Keywords:: south indian bank , net pro fit , dr.v.a.joseph,m.d.& ceo

Name:: simon joseph

Email:: ccm@sib.co.in

Contact Information::

For press queries :Simon Joseph,
Senior Manager,Corporate Communications,
The South Indian Bank Ltd.,
Head Office,Trichur,Kerala Ph:0487-2423858 Mob:9847404555 E-mail: ccm@sib.co.in

Website: http://southindianbank.com