The new generation private sector bank's operating profit was 61.28 per cent higher at Rs 38.11 crore in the first half of the year (April-September), up from Rs 23.63 crore last year. Total income increased by 32.27 per cent from Rs 193.07 crore to Rs 255.37 crore, while interest income grew by 28.53 per cent to Rs 224.25 crore.

Income from non-interest income shot up 67.27 per cent to Rs 31.11 crore, from Rs 18.60 crore during the second quarter last year.

The total expenditure of the bank rose by 28.52 per cent to Rs 211.79 crore from Rs 164.80 crore. The net interest income rose by 27.88 per cent to Rs 37.66 crore from Rs 29.45 crore.

Deposits were 30.58 per cent higher at Rs 3,358.94 crore, while advances grew by 38.20 per cent from Rs 1,612.90 crore to Rs 2,229.11 crore.

``The bank has been placing great emphasis on fee-basedbusiness and low-cost deposits from the household sector. The efforts of the bank in entering the household sector has gained considerable momentum with the expansion of off-site ATM network,'' says a release issued by UTI Bank.

The number of off-site ATMs stood at 11 at the end of September 1999, up from just three ATMs last year, while the number of branches swelled from 29 to 38 branches during the period.

UTI Bank is now preparing to open branches in centres like Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Surat, Simla, Nagpur, Bhopal, Indore and Thrissur, apart from a few more branches in the metros.

UTI Bank is planning to launch a co-branded international credit card in collaboration with Citibank to enhance the financial delivery system and provide certain products and service of the bank at concessional pricing.

To tackle the challenges, the advent of year 2000 (Y2K) the bank has put in place a detailed contingency plan and the audit of the Y2K compliance has been entrusted to an independent agency.