"We are extending credit periods for companies that are overstretched by the current downturn. For example, if a company at present has an 80-day credit period through some working capital finance arrangement and if it wants it to be extended to, say, 160 days, we are willing to consider it," Bank of India general manager PR Yagnik said.

The bank has already reworked the existing working capital finance agreements of some of its clients to increase the credit period. The extension of credit periods is granted on a case-to-case basis depending on the company and industry profile. Some of the sectors that are identified for special treatmentinclude chemicals, steel, engineering, textiles, small-scale industries, automobiles and real estate.

Bank of India is one of the worst-hit banks by the current recession. Its bottom line was hit severely in the second quarter of this fiscal on account of reduced interest income owing to mounting NPAs as well as some asset-liability mismatch.

Extending working capital credit period is one among the many initiatives undertaken by the bank recently to pull itself out of the morass. The bank is currently in the process of appointing recovery agents in major cities to recover assets where the court has ruled in the bank's favour. Its board has also recently approved a unique finance structure that will allow BoI to convert a large part of its NPAs in the sector into productive assets.

All these initiatives were taken when the bank was without a chairman. With the appointment of a new chairman, S Rajagopal, on Monday the bank's business drive is expected to intensify. He has made it clear that his primeconcern is to increase the bank's income flow.

Bank of India reported one of its worst performances in recent years in the first half of 1998-99. Its net profit for the first half plunged 54.29 per cent to Rs 101 crore compared with Rs 221 crore in the corresponding period of the previous year. This performance was against the moderate growth in profits reported by other public sector banks.