The public sector lender, Bank of India, has released its financials for the third quarter of the current fiscal. It has posted a 12 percent increase in its net profits for the quarter ending December 31, 2012. Its net profits currently stand at Rs. 803 crore, a rise which has been recorded as a result of greater provisioning and steady growth in loans segment.

The Mumbai based bank's net profits were recorded at Rs. 716 crore during the same period last fiscal. The rise in profits is also attributed to the decline in tax expenses, which stands at Rs. 137 crore for Q3.

The bank's net interest income, which is the difference of interest income earned and the interest paid out, stands at Rs. 2308 crore, which is a rise of 12 percent as compared to the figures of the year ago period.

During the third quarter of this year, the bank had increased its provisioning by about 32 percent, which presently stand at Rs. 916 crore, as against Rs. 693 crore which was recorded in the year ago period.      

On the occasion, the Chairman and Managing Director of BOI, Mr. V.R. Iyer said, "Major advances growth was on account of loans to gems and jewellery and construction segment. We have not focused on retail so far. Therefore, the bank sees huge scope and we want to grow our retail book to 20 per cent in the next one year from 11 per cent at present."