Result : South Indian Bank Ltd.

The banks net profit grew 20% to Rs.24.84 crore for the quarter ended Dec 2006 as against Rs.20.65 crore for the same period last year. The capital adequacy stood at 11.76%. Gross NPA at 4.29% and Net NPA at 1.49%.

Result : State Bank of Travancore

The banks net profit grew 13.65% to Rs.185.82 crore for the nine monts ended December 2006 as against Rs.163.50 crore for same period last year. The total business reached Rs.53,636 crore, Deposits reached Rs.29,868 crore and Advances to Rs.23,451 crore at the end of Dec 2006.

Result : State Bank of Hyderabad

The bank has achieved a 59.2% growth in net profit for the quarter ended December 2006 at Rs.98.87 crore as against a profit of Rs.62.11 crore for same period last year. The total business grew at 25.37% to Rs.66,593 crore. The net NPA as percentage to net advances reduced to 0.16%.

Centurion Bank eyeing more buys

After acquiring Lord Krishna Bank and Bank of Punjab Ltd, the Centurion bank is eyeing more buys to expand its reach and increase its capital.

Draft RBI norms on Priority lending

As per the draft the banks can lend more under educational loans. The banks can now grant upto Rs.10 lakh to individuals for studies in India and upto Rs.20 lakh for studies abroad. The earlier limits were Rs.7.5 lakh and Rs.15 lakh respectively. Banks are required , under the current guidelines of the RBI, to direct 40% of their loans to " priority sector". Priority sector includes loans given to agriculture, small scale enterprises, micro credit, housing loans ( less than Rs.15 lakhs), besides weaker sections of society among other categories. There are sub-targets fixed under each of these categories. For instance, banks are expected to direct at least 18% of their loans to agriculture (under overall limit of 40%). In case of foreign banks, in view of their lack of rural branches, they are expected to lend only 32% of their loans to priority sector. In their case, they have been given a sub-target of 10% for export credit.

Award for Bank of Baroda

Bank of Baroda has received the special award for " Excellence in Marketing and Brand Communication " by Association of Business Communicators of India.

Change in FII holding

South Indian Bank Sep 06 at 7.8% , Dec 06 at 35.0% Federal Bank Sep 06 at 4.1% , Dec 06 at 37.3% IndusInd Bank Sep 06 at 3.5% , Dec 06 at 17.4% (source ET, 13.01.07)