Indian Bank posts Rs 274-crore net loss

Our Bureau

Chennai, June 3: CHENNAI-based Indian Bank has posted an operating profit of Rs 61.59 crore during the year 2000-01 as against Rs 23.86 crore in the previous year, registering a growth of 158 per cent. This is after taking into account the amortisation of the first instalment of voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) and other staff related provisions such as leave encashment etc. aggregating Rs 96.01 crore. However, the net loss of the bank during the year stood at Rs 274 crore compared to a net loss of Rs 426.97 crore in the financial year ended March 2000.

Speaking at a press conference, Mrs Ranjana Kumar, chairperson and managing director of the bank said “but for the extraordinary burden of amortisation of the first instalment of VRS and other provisions, the operating profit of the bank would have been high at Rs 157.60 crore, which is almost a six-fold increase over the previous year”.

She further said that “if we had received the recapitalisation funds from the government on time, as promised earlier our bank would have reported a net profit during the fiscal 2001”. During the year, the global business of the bank touched Rs 31,127 crore including Rs 21,693 crore of deposits and Rs 9,434 crore of advances.

“After a gap of nearly seven years, the bank’s the domestic performance has also improved.”