Bangalore: Vijaya bank reported on May 16 a net profit of Rs 130.90 crore for the fiscal ended March 31, 2002, up by 85.1 per cent over 2001, and said it planned to enter the insurance business.

The bank had earned Rs 70.73 crore as net profit during 2001 financial year.

Announcing the financial results, Vijaya bank executive director Michael Bastian said the bank's total income increased to Rs 1,727.33 crore from Rs 1,512.45 crore, recording a 14.2 per cent rise over the previous fiscal.

The bank, he said, had also reduced the percentage of Net NPAs to Net advances to 6.02 per cent from 6.23 per cent.

On insurance business, Bastian said the bank proposed to enter into equity participation with one of the world's largest groups in financial services to render insurance business.

About the bank's plans for 2002-2003, he said it proposed to increase the total business to Rs 25,000 crore from Rs 21,000 crore, to implement the Core Banking and Internet Banking at select branches and to commence depository services.

The bank's deposits increased to Rs 14,681 crore from Rs 12,632 crore, a 16.2 per cent rise, as against 9 per cent increase recorded in 2000-2001.

During 2002-2003, it was planned to disburse over Rs 1,000 crore under different retail lending schemes and to computerise 110 branches to increase the business coverage through computerisation to 82 per cent, he added.

PTI