Public sector lender IDBI Bank Ltd has reported a loss of ₹5,662.76 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31 due to higher provisioning for bad loans.

The bank, which has reported losses for the past six consecutive quarters, had posted a loss of ₹3,199 crore during the year-ago period. As a result of the poor performance, the bank had decided to stop giving fresh loans exceeding ₹100 crore to corporates.

But even then, its provisioning for NPAs during the quarter has increased by 43 per cent to ₹10,773 crore from ₹6,054 crore. The bank, whose quarterly losses were the second-highest ever, behind Punjab National Bank’s, saw its total income rise marginally at ₹7,913 crore during the quarter.

IDBI Bank’s CEO MK Jain told a press briefing that the bank has recognised most of its outstanding NPAs and that the board has taken a decision to sell NPAs worth ₹21,000 crore during this financial year. The quarterly gross NPAs stood at ₹55,588 crore against ₹44,752 crore during the same quarter in FY17.

Jain further said the slippages during the quarter stood at ₹12,800 crore, of which ₹9,800 crore was on account of the RBI’s new stressed asset policy. The RBI has initiated “prompt corrective action” against the bank in May last year.

Focus on retail

The Mumbai-headquartered lender is planning to shift focus to retail banking and has launched a slew of digital initiatives. The bank plans to have a new CEO for the expansion of its digital services.

Besides, the bank is also looking to grow its assets under management (AUM) to ₹50,000 crore in the next 2-3 years. At present, the total AUM is ₹10,000 crore. It also plans to sell about 26 per cent stake in IDBI Mutual Fund soon. The bank has about 67 per cent stake in its mutual fund business while IDBI Capital has about 33 per cent.

Jain said the board has approved that the bank will sell IDBI Capital’s stake, and not its own, in the mutual fund subsidiary.

Also, during the financial year, the bank earned a profit of ₹3,870 crore through the sale of stake and properties.

The bank has also tried to release capital through the sale of various non-core assets. The management of IDBI Bank said that such asset sales had helped the bank release close to ₹4,500 crore through financial year 2017-18.

More such asset sales would continue, Jain said. In particular, the bank is looking to sell up to 30 per cent stake in IDBI Mutual Fund.

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