Bank of Baroda launches WhatsApp banking: All you need to know

 

Bank of Baroda announced the launch of banking services on WhatsApp. The services offered by the bank via WhatsApp will be balance inquiry, mini statement, cheque status enquiry, cheque book request, blocking of debit card, information on Bank’s product and services, register/apply for digital products etc.

This initiative strengthens the Bank’s digital presence by providing ease to its customers from the comfort of their homes. The key benefits engaged with the service are 24X7 availability of banking services, no additional requirement of application download, easy access and convenience to all customers, availability on both Android and iPhone at no additional service charge.

Interestingly, even non-customers can also use this platform for queries related to Bank’s products, services, offers, ATM & branches location. The familiarity and simplicity of the solution makes it convenient for the customers to avail banking services in a seamless manner via WhatsApp.

A.K. Khurana, Executive Director, said on the launch, “We are consistently working towards introducing simple and innovative banking solutions using latest technologies. With the growing prominence of social media, we believe that WhatsApp banking will offer immense convenience to our customers to meet their banking requirements."

How to activate Bank of Baroda banking services on WhatsApp

1) Register: Save Bank’s WhatsApp Business Account Number 8433 888 777 in your Mobile Contact list

2) Send message: Send “HI" on this number using WhatsApp platform and initiate the conversation

Alternatively, you may click on this link to start conversation directly on Bank’s WhatsApp number.

Bank of Baroda is India’s leading public sector bank with a strong domestic presence. The Bank’s distribution network includes 8,200+ branches, 10,000+ ATMs, 1,200+ self-service e-lobbies and 20,000 Business Correspondents.

Read More

Bank of Baroda(BoB) Q2 results: Net profit doubles

 State-owned Bank of Baroda on Thursday reported a standalone net profit of Rs 1,678.6 crore for July-September quarter (Q2FY21) on the back of lower provisons. In the previous quarter of the current fiscal (Q1FY21), the lender had incurred a loss worth Rs 864.26 crore. On a yearly basis, PAT grew 128 per cent from Rs 736.6 crore.

On a consolidated basis, profit was Rs 1,771.22 crore for Q2FY21, as against a net loss of Rs 678.71 crore in the June quarter. In the year-ago period, however, consolidated net profit stood at Rs 853.41 crore. 

The numbers beat Street expectations by a huge margin. Analysts at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, for instance, had pegged the net profit at Rs 139.4 crore, while those at Phillip Capital had expected the PAT to stand at Rs 541.7 crore. 

Profit before tax (PBT) for the quarter under review jumped 126.33 per cent YoY to Rs 2,50.23 crore in Q2 from Rs 1,126.76 crore in Q2FY20. In the June quarter, pre-tax loss was Rs 864.26 crore.

Net interest income (NII) came in at Rs 7,507.53 crore for the quarter under review, rising marginally from Rs 7,028 crore income earned in Q2FY20. Sequentially though, the income increased from Rs 6,816 crore. Analysts at Phillip Capital had expected the NII to come in at Rs 6,887.4 crore.

Provisions and asset quality

Provisions set aside in the September quarter declined sharply to Rs 3,001.59 crore on a QoQ basis from Rs 5,627.7 crore set aside in Q1FY21. Of these, provisions for NPA stood at Rs 2,277.25 crore. In Q2FY20, provisions stood at Rs 4,209.16 crore.

"In accordance with the RBI guidelines, the bank was required to make provisions of not less than 10 per cent of the outstanding advances in respect of borrower account where asset classification benefit has been granted. However, the Bank had made provision at 20 per cent in March 31, 2020 while w.e.f. April, 2020 provision at 10 per cent is made wherever the said benefit is extended to the borrowers," the management said in a statement.

As per the details provided by the bank, loan accounts worth Rs 85,898.55 crore are under moratorium as of September 30, 2020. Loan accounts worth Rs 14,022.5 crore were classified at the end of Q2FY21.

As per the RBI's June 7 circular, the bank has made additional provision of Rs 633 lakh during the quarter ended September 30, 2020 and holds total provision of Rs 3,615.50 crore as on September 30, 2020. 

The asset quality improved margianlly to 9.14 per cent in Q2FY21 from 9.39 per cent in Q1FY21. Net NPA, meanwhile, was at 2.5 per cent, down from 2.8 per cent. If the bank had declared those accounts as NPA, which it has not classified as bad loan due to the Supreme Court's ruling, the GNPA would have come in at 9.33 per cent and NNPA would have been 2.67 per cent.

Non-Performing Assets Provisioning Coverage Ratio (including floating provision) is 85.35 per cent as on September 30, 2020. In absolute terms, GNPA was Rs 65,698 crore in Q2FY21, down from Rs 69,132 crore in the June quarter of FY21. NNPA slipped from Rs 19,449.68 crore in Q1FY21 to Rs 16,794.93 crore.

Read More

This Indian PSU banks' have exposure to Sintex Industries

Punjab National Bank (PNB) reported yet another scam on Thursday to the tune of Rs 1,203.26 crore. The public sector reported its exposure to Sintex Industries as “fraud”, its exposure to Sintex Industries.

“Pursuant to the applicable provisions of Sebi's Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR) and the bank's policy, "we inform reporting of borrowal fraud of Rs 1,203.26 crore in NPA account of Sintex Industries Ltd (SIL)," PNB said in a regulatory filing.

The fraud reporting pertains to the large corporate branch at Ahmedabad zonal office, it added.

"The fraud of Rs 1,203.26 crore is being reported by bank to RBI in the accounts of the Company (SIL). Bank has already made provisions amounting to Rs 215.21 crore, as per prescribed prudential norms," the PSU bank said in a BSE filing.

This after the stressed textile company said it defaulted on its debt repayment of Rs 49.54 crore to a total of 10 investors. Of this amount, Rs 45.84 crore is the principal amount while the remaining Rs 3.70 crore was the due interest.

Sintex Industries’ total debt stands at Rs 7,358.88 crore. According to a TOI report, the total exposure of public sector banks to Sintex could be as much as Rs 6,000 crore. The banks have already classified the Sintex account as a non-performing asset (NPA) but will now will have to make full provision for the loan within four quarters – which is a requirement account classified as fraud.

According to Brickwork Ratings, at Rs 1,203.26 crore, PNB has the highest exposure to Sintex followed by Bank of Baroda (BoB) at Rs 649 crore, it rises to Rs 949 crore if the exposure of Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank, which merged with BoB, is taken into account. Another PSU bank Union Bank of India has an exposure of Rs 621 crore, including the erstwhile Andhra Bank which was merged into Union Bank followed by Canara Bank (erstwhile Syndicate Bank) at Rs 472 crore, Exim Bank at Rs 416 crore, Punjab & Sindh Bank Rs 333 crore, Andhra Bank Rs 250 crore.

Read More

Bank of Baroda posts net loss in Q1 due to higher provisions

Public sector lender Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Friday reported a net loss of ₹864 crore for the three months to June, owing to higher provisions for loans that are still standard.

The bank's loss came as a surprise to the market as a Bloomberg poll of 12 analysts had predicted a profit of ₹514 crore. The bank had posted a net profit of ₹710 crore in the same period last year.

BoB's provisions rose 71% on a year-on-year (y-o-y) basis to ₹5,628 crore. Of this, the bank said ₹1,811 crore was towards standard accounts, including ₹996 crore for loans under moratorium where the asset classification benefit was granted.

“Of the ₹1,811 crore, half is accounted for by the provisioning that has been done as per the RBI dispensation for assets that have not slipped on account of the moratorium. The other half of nearly ₹900 crore is on account of a government-guaranteed loan the bank has," said Sanjiv Chadha, chief executive, Bank of Baroda.

The total amount due for this loan is ₹7,600 crore, of that about ₹5,600 crore is a guaranteed by the government, said Chadha.

The bank's gross bad loan ratio or total bad loans as a percentage of total advances, fell 89 basis points (bps) y-o-y to 9.39%. Its asset quality improved in the June quarter as net NPA ratio also declined 112 bps from the same period last year.

The bank’s total loans under moratorium has declined to 21.4% at the end of the June quarter. This includes, 5.74% of loans less than ₹1 million and 15.69% more than ₹1 million.

Its net interest income, or the difference between the interest earned on loans and paid on deposits, increased 5% y-o-y to ₹6,816 crore in Q1 FY21. The bank's net interest margin (NIM), a measure of profitability, stood at 2.55%, down 8 bps from the sequential quarter.

On RBI’s recent announcement of the one-time loan recast window, Chadha said that the scheme was announced only a few days back and the bank has at review its portfolio.

“Maybe a few weeks from now, once we have done a review of our accounts in light of the RBI instructions, we should be able to give you a better answer," said Chadha, adding that the bank could also look at restructuring assets beyond this provision, if required.

The public sector lender's total advances grew 8.6% y-o-y to ₹7.36 trillion, led by retail loan growth of 13.5% y-o-y. Its total deposits grew 4.3% y-o-y to ₹9.34 trillion.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio under Basel III norms stood at 12.84% at the end of the June quarter.

Read More

Overall Comparison of Top 8 Banks in India

Click on right corner of PDF to view large

Read More

Bank of Baroda posts net profit in Q4

Bank of Baroda on Tuesday reported a standalone net profit of Rs 506.59 crore for the March 2020 quarter.

The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 991.37 crore in the January-March quarter of the preceding fiscal ended March 2019.

The figures for the quarter are not comparable year-on-year due to amalgamation of Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank into it with effect from April 2019.

The Government of India through a gazette notification dated January 2, 2019 approved the scheme of amalgamation between Bank of Baroda, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank and amalgamation is effective April 1, 2019.

The results for the quarter/ year ending March 31, 2020 and quarter ended December 31, 2019 includes operations of erstwhile Vijaya Bank and erstwhile DenaBank, Bank of Baroda said in a regulatory filing.

"Hence the results for quarter and year ended March 31, 2020 are not comparable with corresponding period of previous year and for the year ended March 31, 2019," it said.

The income for the March quarter of 2019-20 was at Rs 21,533.10 crore. Its income during the same quarter of 2018-19 was Rs 15,284.59 crore.

For the full year FY20, Bank of Baroda posted a net profit of Rs 546.18 crore, up from Rs 433.52 crore in FY19.

Income during the year increased to Rs 86,300.98 crore from Rs 56,065.10 crore.

On asset front, Bank of Baroda witnessed slight improvement as the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans came down to 9.40 per cent of the gross advances as on March 31, 2020 as against 9.61 per cent by March 31, 2019.

Likewise, net NPAs fell to 3.13 per cent from 3.33 per cent.

The bank has not declared any dividend for the FY 2019-20, BoB said.

Non-performing assets provisioning coverage ratio (including floating provision) is 81.33 per cent as on March 31, 2020 (previous year's 78.68 per cent), it added

Read More

Top Public Sector Banks In India 2020

These banks have emerged to be trusted brands where people deposit and invest money without thinking twice. Some of these banks stand out when it comes to offering services and are thus a preferred choice of greater number of people.

Here is a look at some of the best public sector banks in India.

1] State Bank of India 

Commonly known as SBI, this bank was set up in the year 1955. It is one of the oldest and the most trusted public sector banks in India. SBI is owned by the Indian government. It offers all kinds of banking services and is known for maintaining transparency in its dealings. It boasts of more than 40 crore satisfied customers.

After receiving an overwhelming response from people in India, the bank went on to open its branches worldwide. Today, it has nearly 200 offices in 36 different countries.  The headquarters of SBI are located in Mumbai.

2] Bank of India

This bank was established in the year 1906 as a privately owned entity. However, after the nationalization of banks, it became a public sector bank. This change took place back in 1969. The bank has 5,500 branches operating across the country. 

It has been serving millions of Indians by catering to their banking requirements.The bank also has its branches outside the country. It operates in 22 other countries with around 60 branches. New York, Paris, London and Singapore are among the countries where Bank of India has its branches.

3] Punjab National Bank

This bank came into being in the year 1895. It was founded under the guidance of one of the greatest Indian leaders of all times, Lala Lajpat Rai. The bank was established as a part of the Swadeshi movement. PNB was managed solely by Indians.

It became extremely popular in the pre-independence era and is still trusted as much. It offers several banking services and is known for providing quality banking products. The bank has around 7000 branches and has its presence in every nook and corner of the country.

4] Bank of Baroda

Bank of Baroda was opened in Vadodara, Gujrat in the year 1908. The bank is known to offer quality banking and finance services to its customers ever since its inception.

It is known to be the second largest nationalized bank in the country. The bank does not only operate in India but has its presence around the world. It operates in as many as 25 countries across the globe with more than 75 million happy customers. Dena bank and Vijaya bank merged with Bank of Baroda recently thereby making it an even bigger entity.

5] Central Bank of India

Central Bank came into being in the year 1911. It has been serving the customers happily ever since the beginning. The bank is known to offer numerous banking products.

It has a team of qualified and experienced bankers who have the answer to all your banking related queries and are always happy to help their customers. The bank has nearly 5,000 branches operating pan India. It also has offices in Hong Kong and Nairobi.

The headquarters of this bank is set up in Mumbai.

6] Canara Bank

Established in the year, 1906, Canara bank has its headquarters in Bengaluru. The bank has more than 6000 branches and nearly 9500 ATMs operating across the country. It offers several banking products and is known to offer impeccable service. It has more than 8 crore happy customers.

The bank does not only operate in India but has its branches in many other countries too. It has been serving people in New York, Hong Kong, Shanghai, London, Manama, Leicester, Johannesburg and Dubai.

7] Union Bank of India

Union Bank of India started as a limited company in the year 1919. It became a full-fledged bank in the year 1969 after nationalisation. The bank offers numerous banking products. By providing quality banking services consistently for years it has managed to acquire more than 5 crore customers.

Its customer base is increasing with every passing year. It is the proud owner of over 4500 branches spread across India. It also has branches in 4 other countries including Hong Kong, Sydney, Dubai and Antwerp.

8] UCO Bank

UCO Bank was established back in the year, 1943. It has its headquarters in Kolkatta, West Bengal. The bank has around 50 branches across the country and nearly 4000 plus service units. It has also made its presence overseas with branches in Singapore and Hong Kong.

9] Bank of Maharashtra

Bank of Maharashtra came into being in the year, 1935. The bank has been offering excellent service to its customers ever since its inception. It provides all kinds of banking and finance services. It has its headquarters in Pune. 87.74% of the total shares of the bank are held by the Government of India.

10] Indian Overseas Bank

Indian Overseas Bank was established back in the year, 1937. It has more than 3,400 branches across the country. The bank offers a host of banking services to meet the requirement of different segments of customers. After its success in the country, the bank went on to open branches in foreign land. It has 6 foreign branches.

You can safely open account and acquire other banking services from any of these banks!

Read More

Bank of Baroda(BoB) posts surprise loss in Q3

Public sector lender Bank of Baroda (BoB) on Friday reported a net loss of ₹1,407 crore for the three months to December, owing to higher provisions for bad assets.

The bank's loss came as a surprise to the market as a Bloomberg poll of 18 analysts had estimated a profit of ₹683.4 crore.

On 1 April, 2019, Bank of Baroda merged with two other state-owned banks, Dena Bank and Vijaya Bank. The bank provided comparable numbers for FY19's December quarter by adding individual numbers for the three individual banks. The profit for the amalgamated entity stood at ₹436 crore in Q3FY20.

BoB's provisions rose 54% on a year-on-year basis to ₹6,365 crore. The bank's gross bad loan ratio, total bad loans as a percentage of total advances, fell 48 basis points (bps) y-o-y to 10.43%. Its asset quality pressures continued in the December quarter as loans worth ₹10,387 crore turned non-performing. Of this, ₹4,509 crore was owing to RBI's divergence report that found under-reporting of bad loans.

"We have had a bit of a rough quarter because of the impact of the divergence, which was there on the provision and on the profit but if you look at the yoy figure they seem to stand out well," said Sanjiv Chadha, chief executive, Bank of Baroda.

According to S.L. Jain, executive director, Bank of Baroda, majority of the fresh slippages originated in sectors of chemical, power and non-banks. While slippages from a loan in the chemical sector was about ₹2,700 crore, two power accounts and three non-banks contributed to slippages of ₹1,000 crore and ₹2,900 crore, respectively.

Its net interest income, or the difference between the interest earned on loans and paid on deposits, increased 9% y-o-y to ₹7,128 crore in Q3 FY20. The bank's net interest margin (NIM), a measure of profitability, stood at 2.8%, up 18 bps from the same period last year.

Jain said that the bank's total exposure to the telecom sector is at ₹4,100 crore. He added that most of it are in two companies that have closed operations and have "very little" loans to Vodafone-Idea.

"For the two defunct telecom companies, we have provided for 100% of our loans," said Jain.

The public sector lender's domestic advances grew 0.67% Y-o-Y to ₹5.44 trillion, led by retail loan growth of 15.31% Y-o-Y. It's domestic deposits grew 1.3% Y-o-Y to ₹7.82 trillion. Jain said that corporates have repaid ₹9,954 crore in Q3, of which non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) accounted for ₹2,399 crore.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio under Basel III norms stood at 13.48% at the end of the December quarter.

Read More