Kolkata-based Uco bank is eyeing a net profit of Rs 1,350 crore by end of this fiscal, the bank?s executive director Ajai Kumar said.
?We are aiming at a business of Rs 2.45 lakh crore in 2010-11 and a profit of Rs 1,350 crore,? he said.
?We expect to achieve 19% growth in both, credit as well as deposit, and a net interest margin of 2.6% in the first quarter of the current fiscal,? he said. In the last fiscal, the bank’s business touched Rs 2 lakh crore and net profit stood at Rs 1,012 crore.
According to him, increasing CASA (current account savings accounts) share in total deposits is important to keep the cost of funds low. At present, CASA deposit of the bank is at 24% and the bank has targeted to raise it to 35%. CASA is a base from where banks get cheap funds and thereby a higher ratio of these funds enables banks to bring down their costs.
Talking to reporters at the seventh annual general meeting, Kumar said the bank will take a call on it only after it receives Rs 375 crore fund infusion from the government.
?We are interested in the FPO but we are not in a hurry, first we are looking at the government to put in Rs 375 crore, which we think will come shortly and then we will decide on it,? he added.
While Uco Bank will soon launch mobile-banking transaction services, it will also install 500 ATMs across the country. The bank is also planning to hire 1,000 clerks and restructure tit within a proper HR framework.