Bank of Maharashtra Aims For Total Business Of Rs 5 Lakh Crore In Two Years

Bank of Maharashtra's Managing Director AS Rajeev has said the bank is striving to achieve a total business of Rs 5 lakh crore in the next two years.

Both credit and deposits are growing at a healthy pace and with this growth rate, the bank is on track to cross a business mix (total advance and deposits) of Rs 5 lakh crore, he told PTI.

The total business for the last quarter has increased by around 16% to Rs 3,65,000 crore and total deposits increased by 12% to Rs 2,08,000 crore, while gross advances increased by 22% to Rs 1,57,000 crore, he said.

"Credit Deposit ratio, at present is 75%, with an indication that by March we will be able to increase CD ratio by another 200 basis points, that is the 77% to 78% level," he said.

The Pune-based state-owned bank said it proposes to raise up to Rs 1,000 crore from qualified institutions placement in the January-March quarter to meet minimum public shareholding norms of market regulator SEBI.

The bank has initiated the process to meet the norms of Securities and Exchange Board of India, Rajeev said.

"It will be done in piecemeal manner and we are looking at QIP between Rs 500 crore and Rs 1,000 crore in the current quarter," he said, adding that other means would be explored for dilution of the government's stake.

"Recently, we have come with the request for proposal for selection of Book Running Lead Manager. And what we are planning that in first or second week of February, we will hit the market. We intend to raise Rs 1,000 crore capital," he said.

Currently, he said the government of India holds 90.97% in the bank and the holding is expected to come down to around 85% following share sale.

As per SEBI norms, listed entities are required to have at least 25% public shareholding.

The bank is comfortable as far as capital requirement is concerned, he said, adding that the capital adequacy ratio would take care of loan growth of 20% for the next two years.

Talking about the quarterly numbers, Rajeev said the bank has posted a 138.76% jump in net profit at Rs 775 crore in the third quarter as against Rs 325 crore in the same period a year ago.

Net interest income grew by 29.65% on a year-on-year basis to Rs 1,980 crore as against Rs 1,527 crore for Q3 FY22, he said.

With regard to network expansion, he said, it will increase to 2,200 branches by the end of the current financial year. Currently, the bank has 2,128 branches spread across the country.