Global deposits of the bank crossed Rs 40,000 crore to reach a level of Rs 41,959 crore and domestic average deposits rose to Rs 36,058 crore registering a growth of 16 per cent.

Releasing the annual financial results, the bank said global advances registered a 16 per cent growth which went up from Rs 16,825 crore as on March 1998 to Rs 19,530 crore in March 1999.

Notwithstanding the sluggish world trade, foreign busines turnover of the bank increased to Rs 39,859 crore, recording a growth rate of 17 per cent.

The non-performing assets of the bank declined further from 7.52 per cent as at March 1998 to 7.09 per cent in March 99.

According to the release, the bank has marked 81 per cent of its investments in Government and other approved securities to market against the minimum requirement of 70 per cent.

The productivity measured in terms of business per employeerose to Rs 117 lakh registering a 15 per cent growth. The total priority sector advances rose to Rs 7,034 crore as on March 1999 accounting for 46.5 per cent of net credit which is above the stipulated norm of 40 per cent, it said.

The bank's owned funds moved up to Rs 2,413 crore, addition during the year being Rs 110 crore. The capital adequacy ratio of the bank rose to 10.96 per cent as on March 31, 1999.