The board of directors of the bank met in Mumbai on Monday to finalise the audited financial results and has proposed a dividend of Rs 3.50 per equity share subject to Reserve Bank of India's approval.

Announcing the results, Corporation Bank chairman and managing director RS Hugar attributed the jump in the net to 46.1 per cent increase in advances, 34.74 per cent growth in deposits, effective treasury management, accelerated growth in fee-based income and bank's diversification into gold banking. Analysts pointed out that recovery of non-performing assets to the tune of Rs 46 crore also contributed to the bank's bottomline.

Corporation Bank's capital adequacy ratio (CAR) in March was pegged at Rs 13.23 per cent. While the return on networth remained unchanged at 19.7 per cent, the return on assets went down from1.9 per cent in 1997-98 to 1.6 per cent in 1998-99. The earning per share was pegged at Rs 16 (Rs 13.91) and book value per share Rs 81.25 (Rs 70.75) in March 1999.

Corporation Bank's scrip rose on Bombay Stock Exchange to Rs 91.85 as against the previous close of Rs 90.30. The bank's total business has registered a 38 per cent growth-from Rs 13,655 crore to Rs 18,887 crore. Hugar said the bank is targeting to expand the business in the current fiscal to Rs 25,000 crore.

The bank has also applied to the RBI for taking up primary dealership (PD) business. The bank's 10 per cent stake in Gilts Securities Trading Corporation (GSTC) will remain intact with the bank.

The highlight of Corporation Bank's performance, Hugar said, is its reduction in net non-performing assets (NPA) level from 2.93 per cent to 1.98 per cent in March 1999. The bank's gross NPA for the current fiscal is pegged at Rs 367.98 crore and net NPA at Rs 123.83 crore.

The net profit of the bank has been arrived at after making fullprovisions for the proposed wage hike amounting to Rs 19.86 crore. Besides, it has also made provisioning for Government guaranteed sticky accounts as well as 25 basis points provisioning for standard assets, he added. The total income of the bank grew by Rs 383.17 crore to Rs 1,554.80 crore while total expenditure grew from Rs 1004.76 crore to Rs 1362.77 crore which includes provisions and contingencies to the tune of Rs 113.94 crore (Rs 135.98 crore). The bank is targeting Rs 200 crore worth of disbursal in its personal loan portfolio Hugar said. During fiscal 1999-2000, the bank plans to raise its advances to Rs 8,000 crore from Rs 6,286.20 crore and a deposit base of Rs 17,000 crore from Rs 12,601 crore.