Reduction in high-cost deposits/CDs and retail credit focus helped boost Syndicate Bank profits by 43.34 per cent to Rs 463.37 crore in the second quarter.

Revenues were up 13.21 per cent to Rs 4,546.33 crore, while EPS was at Rs 7.70 compared with Rs 5.63 last year.

“The bank’s profit substantially increased due to sizeable reduction in high-cost deposits/CDs, improvement in yield on credit through more focus on retail credit/MSME and mid-corporate finance and better credit monitoring,” said M.G. Sanghvi, Chairman and Managing Director.

The bank’s asset quality was robust with gross NPA ratio at 2.47 per cent (2.38 per cent) and net NPA ratio at 0.92 per cent (0.93 per cent). Return on asset (ROA) stood at 1.03 per cent as against 0.83 per cent in the same period last year.

Net interest income increased 5.94 per cent to Rs 1,391 crore (Rs 1,313 crore). Net interest margin (NIM) was higher at 3.44 per cent from 3.33 per cent.

According to M. Anjaneya Prasad, Executive Director, Syndicate Bank, “Global deposits were up 10.47 per cent at Rs 1.55 lakh crore (Rs 1.41 lakh crore).”

Domestic deposits rose to Rs 1.43 lakh crore from Rs 1.33 lakh crore and domestic advances grew to Rs 1.11 lakh crore from Rs 1.02 lakh crore.

>anil.u@thehindu.co.in

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