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Syndicate Bank lends Rs 700 cr to industry in north India
WITH business in the northern region having almost doubled to nearly Rs 4,000 crore in the past one year, Syndicate Bank, which has extended term loans to a sizeable number of industrial units, is expected to end 2007-08 with an over twofold increase in its operating profit. While the operating profit in the first half of 2007-08 stood at Rs 30 crore this, in the northern region, was expected to increase to nearly Rs 75 crore by end of March 2008, said the bank’s deputy general manager, Chandigarh, S K Abrol. Outlining the bank's achievements, Mr Abrol told ET here on Monday that the bank had, during the current fiscal, extended credit of Rs 600-700 crore out of the total advances of Rs 1,900 crore to the industrial units in the region. While deposits stood at Rs 2,100 crore, the total business in the region with 62 bank branches is expected to increase to over Rs 4,500 by the end of 2007-08. He said the beneficiaries for advances to the industrial sector included Laxmi Energy Foods of the Laxmi Overseas Group, Khamano, Punjab to the tune of nearly Rs 200 crore, Rama Steels, Baddi, Himachal Pradesh Rs 40 crore the bank being a consortia leader, Chandigarh Iron and Steels Rs 10 crore, Nihal Health Care, Baddi Rs 9 crore for a syringe disposable manufacturing unit, Shaurya Motors, Jammu Rs 25 crore, Gees Industries Jammu Rs 5 crore for manufacture of heavy duty transformers and Raja Forgings and Gears, Baddi Rs 15 crore. In addition to this, he said, the bank had also loaned Rs 400 crore to the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) for contracting power from out side the state as well as to Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Rs 80-90 crore and Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Rs 50 crore. The bank had also extended credit to the farm sector of Rs 25 crore under the Synd Jaikisan schemes for meeting any agricultural needs includ-ing farmers consumption requirements. Moreover, recently another Rs 100 crore had also been extended as credit for other agricultural requirements. Mr Abrol said the bank in the region had also extended Rs 30-35 crore to the housing sector and another Rs 5-6 crore as education loans for those seeking higher studies at home and abroad. He said the bank had as its customers nearly 100 big corporates in the region and by end of the current fiscal another 10 corporates would be added to the list. While the banks recovery was nearly cent per cent however, an NPA of only Rs 20 crore remained as outstanding as per the old accounts. “We can say that our recovery rate is very good and leaving an old account only Rs 10 crore would be the NPA from the total business as of now of nearly Rs 4,000 crore,” he said. Mr Abrol said the bank would add another three branches in the current fiscal at Akbarpur in Sonipat district, Haryana, Nurmahal in district Jalandhar and Ajnala in district Amritsar in Punjab taking the total in the region to 65 branches. While 55 branches in the region are under the core banking solution(CBS) the remaining seven would also be brought under CBS by end of December 2007. He said of the over Rs 4,500 crore business expected by end of the cur-rent fiscal nearly Rs 2,400 crore would be by way of deposits while advances would be in the vicinity of Rs 2,100 crore. Moreover, the bank is also expecting to increase its customer base from the present 3.43 lakh to nearly 4 lakh. It has 28 branches in Haryana, 25 in Punjab, three in Himachal Pradesh, two in J & K and 4 in UT Chandigarh.