Chennai, Oct 04: The public sector Vijaya Bank plans to bring down its non performing assets (NPA) level to one per cent and even below the same by 2005, a top company executive has said. “The NPA level had already come down to just to 1.69 per cent in the first quarter of the current fiscal, from 2.61 per by the end of the previous fiscal", M S Kapur, chairman and managing director of the bank, told reporters here.

He said that the 'overdrive', with regard to NPA recovery initiated by the bank, had so far resulted in taking over at least 145 major properties of defaulters and subsequently amicably settling cases in respect of 97 of those cases.
Kapur said that the business turnover was expected to cross Rs 42,000 crore and the branch strength to 1000 by 2005, from Rs 24,911.15 crore and 843 branches, as on march 2003. The bank, which already has 18 ATMs, planned to add another 100 ATMs, all interconnected, he said, adding that 140 senior technical personnel would soon be recruited in the technical, marketing, foreign exchange and funding divisions. Bureau Report