Indian Bank profit rises to ₹359 crore

Indian Bank’s second quarter net profit more than doubled to ₹359 crore due to increase in other income and lower provisioning.

The bank recorded a net profit of ₹150 crore in the same period last year.

The bank’s other income grew by 72 per cent to ₹738 crore during the September quarter against ₹428 crore last year. The spike in other income is on account of ‘profit on sale of investment’, which contributed ₹249 crore, in addition to miscellaneous and forex income.

Total income of the bank rose by 18 per cent to ₹6,045 crore (₹5,129 crore) during the quarter, while net interest income grew by 7.6 per cent to ₹1,863 crore (₹1,731 crore).

Operating profit for the quarter grew by 26 per cent to ₹1,502 crore (₹1,191 crore). Provisions during the quarter decreased by 9.46 per cent to ₹909 crore, against ₹1,004 crore in the year-ago quarter. However, provisions increased on a sequential basis. Provisions during the first quarter stood at ₹795 crore.

Asset quality of the bank also showed improvement on a sequential basis. Gross non-performing assets (NPA), as a percentage of total advances, stood at 7.2 per cent in the September quarter, compared to 7.33 per cent during the June quarter. GNPA for the same quarter last year stood at 7.16 per cent.

Fresh slippages for the quarter stood at ₹741 crore, down from ₹1,624 crore recorded for the same period last year. “This is because of our sustained focus on arresting slippages and, this, I believe, is helping us a lot in restricting the increase in NPAs,” said Padmaja Chunduru, MD and CEO, Indian Bank. Fresh slippages during the April-June quarter stood at ₹1,035 crore.

Net NPA ratio stood at 3.54 per cent (4.23 per cent) during the second quarte,r while the ratio stood at 3.84 per cent during the April-June period.

While total deposits of the bank stood at ₹2.53-lakh crore (₹2.19-lakh crore) during the September quarter, CASA deposits for the same period was ₹85,597 crore (₹77,573 crore).