Federal Bank aims 18% growth in gold loans in FY14 - Indian Express

PTI : Mumbai, Sun Apr 28 2013, 14:48 hrs The Kerala-headquartered bank's gold loan portfolio stood at over Rs 6,300 crore as of March 31, 2013. (AP) Private sector lender Federal Bank has said it will continue to grow its gold loan-book by up to 18 per cent during 2013-14 in spite of recent fall in prices of the yellow metal. "We will remain cautious, but will continue to lend to the segment and achieve a growth of 15-18 per cent," Managing Director Shyam Srinivasan told PTI over the weekend. The Kerala-headquartered bank's gold loan portfolio stood at over Rs 6,300 crore as of March 31, 2013. When asked about the action taken by the bank following the recent fall in gold prices, Srinivasan said, "We have reduced the LTVs (Loan to Value raito)...anyways, it was never above 70 per cent." After touching a high of over Rs 33,000 per 10 gm, gold prices came down to Rs 25,500 levels over the last fortnight. On remittances front, a mainstay for the bank, Srinivasan said they jumped 36 per cent to Rs 27,000 crore during FY13. He expects the non-resident deposits to grow by 30-35 per cent during FY14. Federal Bank posted a 6.59 per cent dip in its net profit to Rs 221.94 crore in the March quarter, mainly due to 2 per cent dip in the core interest income, which came in at Rs 479.76 crore, and a fall in the net interest margin. Srinivasan said the profit also dipped due to a one-off credit provision reversal during the year-ago period. The bank's net interest margin was squeezed by over 0.40 per cent to 3.37 per cent, against 3.79 per cent in the year-ago period. Srinivasan attributed the fall to high cost of deposits and the bank's strategy to go for the low margin but safer assets during the time of the economic difficulties. On the asset quality front, its gross non-performing assets ratio increased to 3.44 per cent from the 3.35 per cent in the quarter ago period, with a slippage of Rs 357 crore during the March quarter. ... contd. ALSO READ Govt hikes import tariff value of gold to USD 472/10 grams Gold up more than 1%, heads for best week in 18 months Gold, silver demand powers commodity bourses turnover 53% Gold price regains Rs 28,000-mark on strong global demand Please read our terms of use before posting comments TERMS OF USE: The views, opinions and comments posted are your, and are not endorsed by this website. You shall be solely responsible for the comment posted here. The website reserves the right to delete, reject, or otherwise remove any views, opinions and comments posted or part thereof. You shall ensure that the comment is not inflammatory, abusive, derogatory, defamatory &/or obscene, or contain pornographic matter and/or does not constitute hate mail, or violate privacy of any person (s) or breach confidentiality or otherwise is illegal, immoral or contrary to public policy. Nor should it contain anything infringing copyright &/or intellectual property rights of any person(s). via Business - Google News http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFrJ0vJNVJ2bkYnNdQmPmW-CnsMlA&url=http://www.indianexpress.com/news/federal-bank-aims-18--growth-in-gold-loans-in-fy14/1108795/

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