State-owned Vijaya Bank is looking to strengthen provision coverage to 65 percent from 62.65 percent by Q3 or Q4FY19, said RA Sankara Narayanan, MD & CEO of the bank.

"Our provision coverage ratio has improved to 62.65 percent from 59.29 percent for this quarter," he said.

Vijaya Bank on Monday reported 24.54 percent fall in net profit at Rs 139.94 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2018. The bank had registered a net profit of Rs 185.46 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

The bank has done extremely well in growth both in deposits and advances, Narayanan said, adding that the total business as on date has crossed Rs 3 lakh crore.

On net interest margins, he said, “It’s around 2.99 percent which is close to 3 percent. Last time it was 3.1 percent. The major reason for the drop is that the denominator has grown substantially year-on-year.”

The bank's net NPA stood at 3.81 percent as against 4.86 percent last year.