UBI chairman and managing director P.K. Gupta (right) with executive director T.M. Bhasin in Calcutta on Friday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury

Calcutta, Nov. 16: The United Bank of India (UBI) has reported a 43.4 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 232.50 crore for the April-September period this fiscal against Rs 162.08 crore during the same period last year.

“Our total business at the end of the first six months of 2007-08 stood at Rs 61,963 crore, representing a year-on-year growth of 26.9 per cent,” UBI chairman P. K. Gupta said here today.

Deposits during the period grew 28.3 per cent to Rs 38,770 crore and advances went up 24.5 per cent to Rs 23,193 crore.

The bank has also been able to improve its business per branch to Rs 45.29 crore (Rs 37.08 crore) and business per employee to Rs 3.75 crore (Rs 2.81 crore) compared with the previous corresponding period.

“Our customer-oriented focus in business and initiatives to motivate employees to become more customer-friendly is paying off,” Gupta said.

Like other banks, UBI’s improved profitability was largely because of huge growth in non-interest income, such as income from treasury operations, foreign exchange gains and the distribution of third party products, that saw a jump of 65.6 per cent during the reporting period.

The net interest margin, however, fell to 2.20 per cent following an increase in the cost of deposits and a slowdown in credit growth during the period.