Axis Bank CEO Amitabh Chaudhary on Wednesday commented on AIF exposure, and said that there has been no writebacks post RBI provision.
CEO’s remarks came while announcing the bank’s Q4 results highlighting that the bank reported a standalone net profit of Rs 7129.67 crore for the March quarter compared with Rs 6071.10 crore profit in the December quarter (up 17 per cent QoQ) and Rs 5728.42 crore loss in the same quarter last year.
The bank’s CEO Amitabh Chaudhary while declaring the results in the presser highlighted how the bank maintained growth trajectory across segments and improved the quality of deposits.
However, he said that the deposit growth will remain constraint and the liquidity will remain tight.
Notably, the RBI has tightened norms for lenders relating to making investments in units of AIFs to address concerns relating to possible evergreening of stressed loans.
The RBI said lenders cannot make investments in any scheme of AIFs, which has downstream investments either directly or indirectly in a company that has borrowed/ debtor company (currently has or previously had a loan or investment exposure anytime during the preceding 12 months) from them.
The bank’s balance sheet grew 12 per cent YoY to Rs 14,77,209 crore as on March 31, 2024. The bank issued 1.24 million new credit cards in the March quarter of FY24 and has been one of the highest credit card issuers in the country over the last nine quarters, the bank said in a regularory filing.
The bank head further highlighted that the bank’s digital banking performance continued to remain strong with a 33 per cent growth in deposits, and also stated that the bank’s app has a 4.8+ rating on google playstore.
He further stated that the bank’s Net NPA has improved year on year and sequentially.
For 2023-24 fiscal, the net profit jumped 160 per cent to Rs 24,861 crore. The numbers for the March quarter of 2022-23 fiscal and the full fiscal include the impact of exceptional items relating to the Citibank business acquisition, Axis Bank said.
Axis Bank’s fundraise plan:
The private lender revealed its plans to raise Rs 55,000 crore through a combination of debt and equity instruments.
In a regulatory filing, Axis Bank outlined its intention to raise funds through various avenues, including the issuance of debt instruments in Indian and foreign currencies.
Axis bank seeks to raise up to Rs 35,000 crore through debt instruments, subject to the approval of its members, in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, and the SEBI (Issue and Listing of Non-Convertible Securities) Regulations, 2021.
Additionally, the bank plans to raise up to Rs 20,000 crore through equity shares, depository receipts, or any other instruments representing equity shares or convertible securities linked to equity shares.
The fundraising may be conducted through various channels such as qualified institutions placement (QIP), American depository receipts (ADRs), global depository receipts (GDRs), preferential allotment, or any other permissible mode or combinations, subject to the approval of members of the bank and relevant statutory/regulatory bodies.
What do the results say:
Axis Bank today reported a net profit of Rs 7,129 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2024 (Q4 FY24).
The private sector lender’s total income during January-March 2024 stood at Rs 35,990 crore, against Rs 28,758 crore in the year-ago period.
The bank’s net interest income rose 4 per cent to Rs 13,089 crore vs Rs 12,532 crore. Gross NPA was recorded at 1.43 per cent compared to 1.58 per cent (QoQ) while Net NPA was recorded at 0.31 per cent vs 0.36 per cent (QoQ).
The bank’s board has recommended a dividend of Re 1 per equity share of the face value of Rs 2 per equity share for FY24.
Shares of Axis Bank settled at Rs 1,063.70 apiece, up 0.69 per cent over the previous close on the BSE.
Shares of Axis Bank settled at Rs 1,063.70 apiece, up 0.69 per cent over the previous close on the BSE.
