Indian Bank plans to e-auction mortgaged assets next month

Indian bank CEO M.K. Jain

PUBLIC sector bank Indian Bank will hold an online auction of pledged properties in a major way next month.

"Next month we plan to auction online the properties mortgaged relating to around 280 accounts," M.K. Jain, managing director and CEO, told reporters in Chennai on July 23.

Jain said the bank has been holding e-auctions on standalone basis and next month the auction would be on a consolidated one.

The bank has created a separate vertical to look into loan accounts above Rs.1 crore and monitor them closely.

Jain said the...

bank has started sending SMS to the borrowers reminding them of the loan due repayments.

Queried about the bank's plans to reduce the lending rates, Jain said a decision would be taken after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announces its monetary policy next month.

Indian Bank achieved a total business (deposits plus advances) of Rs.300,436 crore (deposits Rs.175,438 crore, advances Rs.124,998 crore) during the first quarter of the current year.

He said the bank curtailed the increase of non-performing assets (NPA) to Rs.145 crore during the quarter under review - the lowest in the last 12 quarters.

He said the bank closed the first quarter with a net profit of Rs.215 crore, up from Rs.207 crore logged during the corresponding period of previous year.

Indian Bank posted a total income of around Rs.4,494 crore during the first quarter, up from Rs.4,144 crore earned during the first quarter of 2013-14.

Indian Bank is not the first public sector bank to carry out e-auction of mortgaged properties. India's largest lender SBI held e-auction in March. SBI will hold separate auctions for retail (predominantly residential units) and commercial properties. 

In March, SBI’s e-auction for properties worth Rs 1,200 crore couldn't enthuse investors and it could sell only 124 properties of the 350 put on sale and the bank could realise only about Rs 90 crore.