Sindh Bank posted Rs 382 million profit in three months

Sindh Bank has earned a profit of Rs 382 million during the first half of current calendar year and is expected to earn a profit of Rs 1.5 billion by the end of first year. During his budget speech, provincial finance minister Murad Ali Shah revealed that Sindh Bank has, on March 31, 2011, posted a net income of Rs 451.240 million against expenses of Rs 68.767 million depicting a pre-tax profit of Rs 382.473 million for just 3 months of operations.
He said that plan to set up Sindh Bank was envisaged by Benazir Bhutto in the early 90s, with a view to providing credit facilities to the hitherto neglected borrowers from small businesses and farmers and for providing banking services to far-flung areas of Sindh.
However, it was felt that, due to the long delay in setting up the bank, a full-fledged commercial bank should be established. Thus it was decided that the bank has also to service the needs of a wide spectrum of retail and business depositors & borrowers and to be fully equipped to cater to the commercially important areas of trade and project financing.
"Small loans of the bank play a vital role in development of social and economic and by participating in these schemes for extending small loans including tractor loans to farmers, loans to students for post-graduate studies and to small & medium size enterprises, banks can support the government," he added.
The Sindh Bank has bee set up after obtaining all necessary approvals from the State Bank of Pakistan and has been accorded approval to set up 50 branches by the end of this calendar year, of which 5 have already been made functional, he said.
Some 10 more branches have been planned to be set up by end June 2011 and another 6 by end July 2011. By end of this year bank will have 50 branches operational. In addition, the Bank has been assigned an AA rating by JCR-VIS credit rating agency. The Bank has already started contributing to the needs of the people of this province including Benazir Zarai Card scheme for small farmers, launched in Naudero in April this year. The Bank has participated in the Sindh government tractor scheme for farmers, besides initiating student loan programme and providing Internet banking and web-based utility payment to its customers, the minister said.