Bandhan Bank’s net profit for the June quarter soared 47% year-on-year at Rs 1063 crore backed by healthy business expansion and lower credit cost.
The net profit was Rs 721 crore in the year ago quarter.
The bank’s net interest margin for the quarter rose 30 basis points to 7.6% compared to what it was in the corresponding period earlier, despite a 60 bps rise in cost of deposits.
One basis point is a hundredth of a percentage point.
Bandhan’s net interest income was 21% higher at Rs 3005 crore, helped by a 22% rise in gross advances to Rs 1.26 lakh crore, chief financial officer Rajiv Mantri said. The bank’s operating profit for the quarter stood at Rs 1941 crore, reflecting a 24% rise.
This is the first quarterly earnings reported by the bank after founder Chandra Shekhar Ghosh stepped down from the position of managing director. The bank is in the process of hiring a new incumbent to lead the bank. In the interim, Ratan Kumar Kesh is spearheading the business
The bank has managed to rein in fresh slippages at Rs 891 crore as compared with Rs 1017 crore in the preceding quarter which helped it lower the total provision at Rs 523 crore against Rs 602 crore.
Accordingly, credit cost for the quarter stood at 1.6% against 5.8% in the March quarter and 2.4% in the year ago period. The bank has given a credit cost guidance of 1.8-2% for the year.
Its gross non-performing assets fell to 4.2% at the end of June from 6.8% a year prior to that. Net NPA improved to 1.1% against 2.2%. Provision coverage ratio rose to 73.7% against 69.2% a year back.
On the liability side, Bandhan has managed to grow deposits by 23% year-on-year to Rs 1.33 lakh crore, making it one of the few banks to have witnessed higher deposit growth than credit growth bucking the industry trend.
