Allahabad Bank reports 55 percent rise in Q4 net profit

Kolkata, May 5 (IANS) Backed by healthy growth in its core business, public sector lender Allahabad Bank Saturday reported a 55.36 percent growth in its net profit for the quarter ending March 31, 2012, at Rs.4 billion against Rs.2.58 billion for the same period last year.

Net interest income of the bank during the fourth quarter under review was Rs.12.88 billion against Rs.11.51 billion in the previous year.

The bank's business growth during the year was 20 percent, with gross credit soaring to Rs. 1,122.50 billion as on March 31, 2012 from Rs.945.71 billion as on March 31, 2011.

The gross credit swelled by 18.69 percent and deposits by 21.01 percent to Rs.1,595.93 billion.

The Kolkata-headquartered bank said its net interest margin (NIM) for the fourth quarter increased by 23 basis points to 3.23 percent, mainly due to improvement in credit-deposit ratio and yield on advances.

Allahabad Bank is aiming to grow its advances by 21 percent in this fiscal.

"We have projected the total business of Rs.3,30,000 crore (Rs.3,300 billion). We are projecting a deposit growth of 18 percent and credit growth of 21 percent during this financial year," chairman J.P. Dua said.