AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

NT Bureau
Chennai, May 23:

        Standard Chartered Bank, country's international bank major, announced a net profit of Rs 1,364.3 crore for 2006-07, a jump of 51 per cent over Rs 904.8 crore in the previous fiscal.

        Total income during the year increased 31 per cent to Rs 5,390.1 crore from Rs 4,114 crore in 2005-06 on the back of robust growth in both net interest income and fee income.

        Total assets increased to Rs 58,853 crore, an increase of 28 per cent over the previous year. During the year, deposits rose 20 per cent to Rs 34,174 crore while advances jumped 25 to Rs 30,103.7 crore. Neeraj Swaroop, CEO, Standard Chartered Bank, said, 'We had a year of exceptional growth in both our consumer and wholesale banking businesses. Corporate finance, FX and derivatives and transaction banking within wholesale banking; and wealth management, SME and personal loans in the consumer bank turned in a strong performance.'

        'Standard Chartere-d has been a key partner in supporting the international ambitions of Indian companies and has participated in several landmark cross-border deals in the last year. Given the strong growth momentum in our key businesses, profits have more than doubled in the last two years - we are clearly poised to strengthen our leadership position in India ,' Swaroop added.

        Sanjeev Agrawal, chief financial officer-South Asia, Standard Chartered Bank, said: Fee income as a percentage of total income has improved to 24 per cent reflecting our ability to provide value added products to our customers. A sharper focus on improving efficiency has helped keep the increase in operating expenses moderate at 17 per cent, with the cost-income ratio improving to 37.4 per cent from 41.1 per cent in the previous year.'

        Swaroop added: The group has invested Rs 1,360 crore in the Indian business during the year further to the Rs 1,300 crore last year which reflects our commitment to the Indian market. We now employ over 17,000 in India against 14,500 in March 2006.'