IDFC First Bank has posted a net loss of ₹218 crore for the fourth quarter of 2018-19 due to high provisioning. The lender had a net profit of ₹41.93 crore for the same period a year ago.

“The key reason for the loss is provisions of ₹419.46 crore made on three exposures of ₹2,794 crore that are performing satisfactorily on its books, however, as a prudent measure, they have been identified as watch-list accounts as two of these accounts pertain to financial services firms that have been downgraded by rating companies recently,” it said in a late night release on Friday, adding that the bank does not have any exposure to IL&FS or Jet Airways.

For the full financial year 2018-19, IDFC First Bank posted a net loss of ₹1,944 crore as compared to a net profit of ₹859.3 crore. The bank said that this included accelerated goodwill amortisation on merger of ₹2,599 crore and tax credits of ₹1,351 crore. “But for these exceptional items of goodwill amortisation and one-time tax credits, the earnings before tax would have been a loss of ₹696 crore,” it said.

IDFC First Bank was set up by the merger of Capital First and IDFC Bank in December 2018.

For the January to March 2019 quarter, the bank reported a net interest income of ₹1,113 crore, as against ₹453.24 crore a year-ago. The net interest margin for the reporting quarter was 3.03 per cent as compared to the NIM of 1.58 per cent for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 (pre-merger).

V Vaidyanathan, Managing Director and CEO, IDFC FIRST Bank, said, “The bank has already begun the transformation and growth journey and is focused on accelerating the build out of its retail liability franchise, growing the retail assets book, diversifying the balancesheet and improving margins.”

The bank’s gross non-performing assets was 2.43 per cent of gross advances as on March 31, 2019, as against 3.31 per cent a year-ago. The net NPA was marginally higher at 1.27 per cent as on March 31, 2019, as against 1.69 per cent a year ago.

The bank made a provision of ₹698.2 crore in the fourth quarter of 2018-19, up from ₹242.45 crore in the corresponding year-ago period.

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