State-run Allahabad Bank is looking at a modest business growth of 9 per cent during fiscal year 2019-20 through a focus on consolidating current account and savings accounts (CASA) base and increasing dependency under the retail sector, according to its latest annual report.

The bank’s total deposits stood at Rs 2,14,335 crore at the end of the last financial year registering a year-on-year (y-o-y) growth of 0.34 per cent.

The share of CASA deposits in aggregate deposits increased to 49.49 per cent at the end of March as compared to 46.50 per cent a year ago. The bank reduced its bulk deposits by 43.87 per cent y-o-y from Rs 3,247 crore to Rs 1,823 crore during March, the report said.

CASA deposits with a special focus on savings bank deposits were the focus areas at the ground level, it said. Consequently, CASA deposits increased by 7.77 per cent y-o-y during financial year 2018-19 and savings bank deposits increased by 6.89 per cent.

“Bank is looking at a modest business growth of 9 per cent during FY20 through focus on consolidating CASA base and increasing dependency under retail sector,” the lender’s Managing Director and CEO S.S. Mallikarjuna Rao said.

During the FY19, there was “severe pressure on quality of assets and the rise of NPA” in the bank, which was not an isolated phenomenon but part of the overall industry trend, the report pointed out.

The gross NPA ratio increased to 17.55 per cent in FY19 from 15.96 per cent in FY18, while the net NPA ratio decreased to 5.22 per cent from 8.04 per cent in the same period.

The provision coverage ratio also improved to 79.85 per cent during the same period. The bank reported Rs 2,827 core cash recovery in NPA in FY19.

“We expect slippage to moderate and to be contained at approximately 1 per cent per quarter,” he said. For effective and timely monitoring of the NPA accounts and follow up of due process in the NPA accounts having ledger balance of Rs 1 and above, the “Stressed Asset Management Vertical” has been introduced at the head office level as well as the field level with dedicated executives.

“Dedicated SAM verticals are in place to ensure recovery of around Rs 2,000 crore a quarter,” Rao said in the report.

The bank’s CRAR stood at 12.51 per cent in FY19, which constituted a Tier I ratio of 9.68 per cent and a Tier II ratio of 2.83 per cent.

“The bank shall be requiring to augment growth capital during the year and has obtained board approval for raising equity capital up to Rs 4,000 crore through various modes during the year,” Rao said.

“We expect the bank to break even during Q1FY20 and thereafter to post net profits consistently. The NIM is expected to be around 2.65 per cent and visible improvement in cost to income ratio,” he added.