Joshi: Upbeat

Calcutta, April 22: Dena Bank has carried out the three corrective measures outlined by the Reserve Bank in March last and is upbeat about its performance this fiscal, chairman and managing director A. G. Joshi said.

The RBI had suggested certain corrective measures after Dena Bank hit all three adverse levels of performance such as return on capital, capital adequacy ratio (CAR) and high percentage of net non-performing asset (NPA) to net advance in March 2002 after reporting a net loss of Rs 266 crore in March 2001.

“We have come a long way since then. Our return on capital in January 2003 reached 0.254 per cent against the stipulated norm of 0.25 per cent,” Joshi said. The bank is confident that the ratio will touch 0.50 per cent after the audited accounts for 2002-03 are finalised.

Joshi said the CAR has also improved from a low of 7.45 per cent in March 2002 to 7.85 per cent in December 2002. “We have already raised Rs 100-crore Tier-II capital in March this year and expect that the CAR would meet the RBI stipulation of 9 per cent in March 2003.”

The bank’s percentage of net non-performing assets to net advance was as high as 18.37 per cent in March 2001. It came down to 16.34 per cent in March 2002 and further to 11.80 per cent by January 2003.