Mumbai, Jan. 24 (PTI): The Bank of Baroda (BoB) has posted a 62.79 per cent increase in net profit at Rs 329.13 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, led by good growth in net interest income and international operations.

The bank’s net interest income was up 18.1 per cent during the quarter at Rs 960.77 crore compared with Rs 813.36 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The net profit stood at Rs 202.18 crore.

The public sector bank, present in 21 countries, registered a robust growth in its overseas operations. “Our international operations contributed about 35 per cent to our net profit,” bank chairman and managing director Anil K. Khandelwal said.

BoB has received licences for opening eight more foreign offices in Qatar, Bahrain, Ghana, Johanesburg, London. It has also received approval for setting up shop in Australia and Hangzhou (China), apart form upgrading the office in Guangzhou to a full-fledged branch.

“During the current fiscal, we plan to open offices in six countries, including Trinidad & Tobago, Canada, Australia, Ghana, Qatar And Bahrain,” Khandelwal said.

The bank’s total income increased 32.86 per cent to Rs 2,720.67 crore for the third quarter this fiscal from Rs 2,047.66 crore for the corresponding quarter a year ago, he said.

“We have always laid emphasis on profitability with growth and we have been able to grow our margins to 3.21 per cent in April-December, 2006,” he said.

The total business of the bank increased 37.06 per cent to Rs 1,89,959 crore at end-December 2006. During the quarter, the bank took steps to improve its position of non-performing assets (NPAs). Net NPAs declined from 1.10 per cent to 0.67 per cent at end-December 2006.

The cash recovery of the bank stood at Rs 293 crore while recovery from written-off NPAs was Rs 170 crore. The capital adequacy stood at 12.24 per cent despite a robust credit growth of 46.8 per cent.