UTI Bank executive director of corporate strategy, Asok Kumar has announced that they have decided to go in for a fresh equity issue in the current financial year; the bank is aiming around hiking Rs 2,000 crore either through a domestic issue or global depository receipts in order to smarten up its tier-I capital base

Pepped up by a huge outgrowth in advances along with a sizeable fee income, the UTI Bank has posted a 39.6% growth in its net profit at Rs 211.9 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2007. In the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal, the bank had posted a net profit worth Rs 151.7 crore. A year ago, the bank’s net profit rose 35.8% to Rs 659 crore as against Rs 485.1 crore.

For the reporting quarter, the bank’s net interest income grew by 48.4% to Rs 464.2 crore (Rs 312.9 crore). The bank’s NII rose by 45.3% to Rs 1567.1 crore on a year-on-year basis.

The bank has experienced a sharp rise in its cost of funds, which stands at 5.9% for the reporting quarter and 5.6% on a Y-o-Y basis. The bank’s net interest margin has gone up to 3.06% (2.96%) for the quarter under review, and correspondingly, it has surged to 5.6% for the year ended March 31, 2007 from 4.9% a year ago.

The boosts to the agricultural sector have heaved by 108% to Rs 4,074 crore as on March 31, 2007 from 1,963 crore a year ago. The capital adequacy ratio of the bank has surged to 11.57% from 11.08% a year ago.