Indian Bank reported a 19 per cent fall in net profit for the December quarter.

Its net profit declined to ₹303 crore from ₹373 crore in the third quarter of the previous fiscal.

The bank attributed this to mark-to-market depreciation on investments due to rise in bond yields and other provisions.

Net interest income grew 30 per cent to ₹1,623 crore (₹1,247 crore). Net revenues stood at ₹2,172 crore, up 18 per cent over the year-ago period.

Overall provisions and contingencies increased to ₹918 crore in Q3 of this fiscal from ₹540 crore a year ago, provisions for non-performing assets (NPAs) were lower by 30 per cent at ₹385 crore (₹547 crore).

Its asset quality showed improvement both year-on-year and quarter-on-quarter bases. Gross NPA fell to 6.27 per cent from 6.67 per cent in the September quarter of this fiscal and 7.69 per cent in Q3 of the previous fiscal.

Net NPA dropped to 3.3 per cent from 3.42 per cent in the preceding quarter and 4.76 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

“Our gross and net NPAs have been coming down for the past five quarters and stressed advances as a percentage of gross advances have reduced to a single digit, at 8.88 per cent, from 12.41 per cent in the year-ago period,” Kishor Kharat, Managing Director and CEO, said.

There were fresh slippages of ₹955 crore in the third quarter of this year, which included two or three major accounts involving more than ₹100 crore per account, while the rest were in small-ticket loans. Its slippage ratio fell to 1.61 per cent in the December quarter, from 2.12 per cent in the year-ago period.

Advances of the bank grew 22 per cent at ₹1,53,120 crore (₹1,25,858 crore). “This was primarily driven by RAM (retail, agriculture and MSME). Retail loans grew 27 per cent at ₹24,476 crore. In this, housing loans grew 23 per cent at ₹13,062 crore,” said AS Rajeev, Executive Director of the bank.

Agri and MSME loans grew 21 per cent (₹29,530 crore) and 38 per cent (₹26,802 crore), respectively.

Return on assets fell to 0.50 per cent from 0.71 per cent due to the impact of the reduction in treasury income and depreciation on investments.

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