If you are a customer of Central Bank of India then this news is important for you. Actually, by March 2023, the bank is going to close or merge many of its branches. This has been claimed in a report by news agency Reuters. According to the report, the bank is planning to close 13 per cent branches to improve its financial health.
The plan is to reduce the number of branches to 600 by closing or merging loss-making branches by the end of March 2023. This is being said to be the most drastic step taken by the bank to improve its financial health. After this, the plan can be worked out on the sale of non-core assets like real estate of the bank. More than 100 years old, this bank currently has a network of 4,594 branches.
Action taken by RBI: In the year 2017, the central bank along with another 12 banks were placed under the prompt corrective action (PCA) of the RBI. The RBI had taken this action in view of the disturbances in the financial health of the bank. Since then all lenders except the central bank have improved their financial health and have come out of the RBI’s PCA list.
However, the central bank is still struggling. Let us tell you that under PCA, a bank may face more scrutiny by the regulator. Apart from this, credit and deposit restrictions, branch expansion etc. are banned.
Apart from this, RBI has imposed a fine of Rs 36 lakh on Central Bank of India for violation of rules related to protection of customers’ interests.
December quarter results: During the last financial year, the profit of Central Bank of India in the December quarter increased by 69 per cent to Rs 279 crore. The bank had made a net profit of Rs 165 crore in the same period a year ago.
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The total income increased to Rs 6,666.45 crore during this period. Net interest income also increased to Rs 2,746 crore from Rs 2,228 crore in the year-ago period. At the same time, the gross non-performing assets (NPA) of the bank declined by 15.16 per cent.