Hyderabad, July 26: The public sector Syndicate Bank has drawn up plans to expand its network adding 140 branches across the country this year while the business target is fixed at Rs 57,000 crore. Disclosing this at a press conference on Friday, the bank's executive director K M Shet said efforts were on to add five lakh new customers and open over 100 extension counters during the year.

The net profit of the bank rose to Rs 101.85 crore during the first quarter that ended June 30, 2003, as against Rs 79.41 crore in the corresponding period last year, reflecting an increase of 28.26 per cent.
The bank, he said, had declared a dividend of 15 per cent for the year 2002-03.

Stating that the bank had an accumulated Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) to the tune of Rs 1,560 crore, Shet said the bank was looking at a net cash recovery target of Rs 350 crore this year. Bureau Report