South Indian Bank posts 36% rise in net profit

 South Indian Bank reported a 36% net profit increase to Rs 102 crore in the quarter till December 2011.

The Kerala-based bank had recorded a net profit of Rs 75 crore in the same period of 2010. Its advances rose 7 per cent to Rs 25,050 crore in the October-December 2011 period while deposits increased 2 per cent to Rs 33,834 crore in the quarter.

The bank is planning to raise Rs 1,000 crore in the April-June 2012 period through qualified institutional placement  route. The funds raised will be used for supporting bank's goal of reaching a total business size of Rs 1-lakh crore, building 800 branches, 800 ATMs and employing 8,000 employees by 2014, according to Dr. V. A. Joseph, Managing Director and CEO.

Dr. Joseph said that the bank will maintain a net interest margin at 3 per cent in the current financial year. SIB is focusing on lending against gold and about 28 per cent of the total advances portfolio is from gold loans. “Lending against gold is a safe bet. We have set a cap of 30 per cent of total advances for gold loans,” he said.