UCO Bank sells bad assets worth ₹1,500 cr to ARCs

Kolkata-based lender UCO Bank has sold bad assets worth ₹1,500 crore to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs).

According to Arun Kaul, Chairman and Managing Director, UCO Bank, this is the second straight quarter when the bank has resorted to selling bad assets to ARCs.

He, however, did not specify the amount that UCO Bank has earned from the sale of such assets.

“We have sold bad assets worth ₹1,500 crore. However, I cannot comment on what we have earned until the accounts have closed,” he told reporters during a media interaction at the MCC Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In the quarter ending December 2013, the bank had sold off stressed assets to the tune of approximately ₹322 crore. During the quarter, it had made provisions against bad debts and non-performing assets of ₹812 crore. Fresh slippages stood at ₹597 crore.

UCO Bank did not sell bad assets during the first two quarters (April-June and July-September) of the fiscal.

According to Kaul, restructured accounts will remain in line with the first nine months of the year.

The restructured asset portfolio stood at ₹12,870 crore as on December 31, 2013, with loans worth ₹1,400 crore being restructured during the quarter (Oct-Dec).

The bank, he said, was looking at a credit growth of 15-16 per cent during the fiscal, while Net Interest Margin (NIM) is expected to be around 3 per cent.

In the first nine months, credit growth has been around 16 per cent for the bank.

The UCO Bank stock closed at ₹66.90, down 2.19 per cent, at the BSE on Thursday.

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