Bandhan Bank net profit declines 13 per cent to Rs 633 cr

Bandhan Bank has registered a 13 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 633 crore for the quarter ended December 31, 2020, as against Rs 731 crore for the same period last year on the back of higher provisioning.

During the quarter, the bank made a further provision of Rs 1,000 crore on standard advances against the potential impact of Covid-19. With this provision and an additional standard assets provision, the total additional provision in the books stands at Rs 3,119 crore.

Net Interest Income (NII) for the quarter grew by around 35 per cent to Rs 2,072 crore, as against Rs 1,540 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Non-interest income grew by 55 per cent to Rs 553 crore, as compared with Rs 358 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. Operating profit increased by 51 per cent to Rs 1,914 crore, as against Rs 1,264 crore.

The net interest margin (annualised) for the quarter ending December 31, 2020, stood at 8.3 per cent, against 7.9 per cent in December 31, 2019.

“This quarter showed a robust performance operationally, backed by higher growth, lower cost of funds and aided by non-interest income and strong retail deposits and CASA. During the quarter, we further strengthened the balance sheet by taking accelerated additional provision on standard advances amounting to ₹1,000 crore taken for Covid-19. With Q4 historically being the best for us every financial year, we forward to a similar performance in the last quarter of this financial year as well,” Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Managing Director and CEO of Bandhan Bank, said.

Gross non-performing assets as a percentage of advances stood at 1.11 per cent (1.93 per cent) and net NPAs at 0.26 per cent (0.81 per cent).

The bank’s collection efficiency, which stood at around 89 per cent during the quarter ended September 2020, improved to around 92 per cent during the quarter ended December 2020. However, the passing of the Assam Micro Finance Institutions (Regulation of Money Lending) Bill, 2020, has impacted collection in the state .

Collection efficiency in Assam, which was around 88 per cent in end-December, has dropped to around 78 per cent during the first 16 days of January. Overall collection efficiency during the first fortnight of January has also inched down to around 90 per cent (as against 92 per cent in end-December).