Rising bad loans and higher provisioning for them dragged down the net profit of Andhra Bank by 74.49 per cent during the quarter ended March 31.

The bank clocked a net profit of ₹88.08 crore for the quarter against ₹344.58 crore in the year-ago period.

Its gross non-performing assets were ₹5857.60 crore during the quarter compared to ₹3714.49 crore in the corresponding quarter for the previous year. In terms percentage, the gross NPA was 5.29 per cent (3.71 per cent). The bank made a provision of ₹666.65 crore for the sticky loans during the period, while it was ₹187.36 crore in the last quarter of previous fiscal.

SK Kalra, Executive Director of the bank, said there was a dip in NPA level in the last two quarters. “We believe the worst is over and the turnaround (on NPA account) has started. We also expect the economic climate to improve in the current fiscal,” he told media persons here.

He said that the bank was aiming at bringing down the gross NPA levels to below 4 per cent this fiscal.

The bank’s income for the quarter, however, rose 9.3 per cent to ₹4,057.89 crore. For the whole year, the bank’s net profit and total income were ₹435.58 crore and ₹15,630.16 crore against ₹1,289.13 crore and ₹13,957.11 crore in the year-ago period respectively.

On its lead bank status in the State, Kalra expected the bank to retain the status for Seemandhra after the bifurcation, while “we will have to fight it out” in the new State. It has 780 branches in Seemandhra against 470 in Telangana.

On its exposure to Deccan Chronicle Holdings, he said the bank has attached two properties located in Chennai and Bangalore worth ₹150 crore, but was not able to sell them due to legal hurdles. Its exposure to the debt-laden company is about ₹199 crore.

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