Pune-based Janata Sahakari Bank will soon apply for a multi-state operations licence and plans to open up to five branches in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Goa before end-March, 2012.
“We will be seeking the permission in 3-4 months from the Reserve Bank with a request to open branches in Nipani, Vapi, Belgaum and Indore,” the cooperative bank’s Chairman, Arvind Khadilkar, said.
Presently, the bank operates 37 branches across Maharashtra and plans to add up to six more within the state by end-FY’12, he said.
The bank, which is now the fifth largest urban cooperative bank, with a balance sheet size of Rs 5,700 crore, has come a long way and ended in the black for the first time last fiscal.
It has a tumultuous past, wherein certain business decisions took it toward the brink of collapse in 2003 when its net non-performing assets stood at a staggering 28.18 per
cent, but it has been resurrected now, the Chairman added.
Its Chief Executive, V P Bhave, said the bank is targeting growth in all key indicators this year and is targeting a zero net NPA this fiscal as compared to last fiscal’s 0.43 per cent.
The bank aims to grow the balance sheet size by around 23 per cent to Rs 7,000 crore in FY’12, he said.
It is also targeting an increase in profit to Rs 50 crore from Rs 27.85 crore in FY’11 and a rise in capital adequacy to over 11 per cent from the present 10.70 per cent, Bhave said.