Public sector lender Bank of Baroda has booked a 20% rise in net profits. The net profits of the bank for the first quarter of this fiscal stands at Rs 1033 crore as compared to Rs 859 crore for the same quarter last fiscal.

While most of the public sector lenders had to succumb to bad loans and thus compromise with profits, BoB managed to stand apart.

Mr M.D. Mallya, Chairman and Managing Director, BoB, said, "As interest rates are ruling high, CASA (current and savings account) growth is difficult to come by. We have seen pressure on Net Interest Margin as we have not been able to pass on all the interest rates hikes to borrowers."

The bank booked core fee income of Rs 398 crore , Rs 29 crore from recovery from written off accounts and income from treasury was Rs 214 crore.

"We take small exposure to many projects and diversify our risk,'' said Mr R.K. Bakshi, Executive Director.