UCO Bank Confident of Meeting Rs 3,000-Cr Lending Target for Retail, MSME During This Festive Season

During the October and November, the UCO Bank is lending a sum of Rs. 3000 crore in retail and MSMEs; the bank has plan to reach this target positively within the festive season.

As around Rs 1,900 crore has already been sanctioned for retail and MSME segments, Public sector lender Uco Bank is confident of meeting Rs 3,000 crore lending target during this festive season. According to  MD & CEO AK Goel “This target is easily achievable. So far, Rs 1,800-1,900 crore loan amount has been sanctioned,”.

By the end of the second quarter of this financial year,  the government lender's retail advance and MSME advance stood at Rs 26,311 crore and Rs 26,426 crore, respectively, recording quarter-on-quarter growths of 3.3% and 8.4%.

The bank’s operating profit for the September quarter posted a 8.7% quarter-on-quarter growth at Rs 1,330.31 crore as against Rs 1,223.37 crore for June quarter. Operating profit for the quarter was highest in last 22 quarters. The bank reported Rs 30.12 crore net profit for the second quarter this fiscal year.

As a statement by Goel, currently retail, MSME and agriculture constitute over 62% of the bank’s loan book, up from 48% from Rs 25,665.14 crore in the second quarter last fiscal.Total NPA reduction was Rs 3,425 crore during July-September, when cash recovery and upgradations from bad loan accounts were at Rs 490 crore.

During the period fresh slippages were Rs 215 crore, down 44% q-o-q. Gross NPAs as a percentage of total loans fell 276 basis points (bps) to 11.62% from 14.38% during the previous quarter. Net NPA ratio also decreased by 132 bps sequentially at 3.63%. “Our gross NPA ratio will be less than 10% and net NPA ratio will be less than 3% at this fiscal-end,” Goel said.