UCO Bank Managing Director and CEO Soma Sankara Prasad has said that the bank is in the process of opening new branches, and the plan is to open 200 new branches all over the country by the end of 2023.
The CEO was in the city on Thursday to inaugurate an ATM, a currency chest van and a currency sorting machine at the bank’s Dwarakanagar branch.
Interacting with reporters, Mr. Prasad said that the bank was consistently earning profits for the last six to seven quarters. It posted a profit of ₹200 crore by September-end and ₹310 crore by December-end. The bank has a capital adequacy ratio of 14.56% and would not require fresh capital for the next one-and-a-half-years.
The bank would also advance loans for the purchase of assets under the National Asset Monetisation Programme (NAMP) of the Government of India. The bank was offering home loans at an interest rate of 6.5%, which was among the lowest in the market, he said.
The CEO said that the focus of the bank was on retail sector loans like home loans, where the NPAs would be less, loans to MSMEs and agriculture. The MSMEs were recovering after a rough patch due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the agriculture sector was being encouraged by the government through incentives to the beneficiaries for installing cold storage units, warehouses and other infrastructure. The bank expects to achieve 15% growth in the lending business, he said.
He said that the bank has the second highest provision coverage ratio at 91.3%. This would help the bank to withstand any temporary stress due to bad debts as for every ₹100 of bad loans, ₹91.30 has already been provided by the bank. Further, if the bank recovers any bad debts of the past, through NCLT and Debt Recovery Tribunal (DRT), it would be a profit for the bank, he explained.
The proposed new branches would also help in achieving growth, he said, adding that UCO Bank has around 3,000 branches in India and two branches overseas.
Replying to queries, Zonal Manager (A.P. & TS) Amit Shrivastava said that 10 new branches each were proposed to be opened in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana States. Two new branches would be opened in Vizag, he said.
