Lower provisions helped private sector Bandhan Bank report an over two-and-a-half fold jump in net profit at Rs 733 crore for the third quarter to December 31, 2023 against Rs 291 crore in the year-ago period, while a fall in other income put pressure on operating profit.
The bank’s net interest margin (NIM) for the quarter improved to 7.2% from 6.5% while credit cost eased to 2.5% from 6.4%. Provisions were at Rs 684 crore as compared with Rs 1542 crore.
“We would like to maintain NIM at 7-7.5% range this fiscal,” managing director Chandra Shekhar Ghosh said Friday after announcing the quarterly earnings. “Given the Reserve Bank of India’s commitment to maintain adequate liquidity in the system, there may not further rise in deposit rates,” he said.
The bank’s net interest income was 21% higher at Rs 2530 crore while non-interest income halved at Rs 545 crore. Operating profit was 14% lower at Rs 1655 crore against Rs 1922 crore.
The lender’s asset quality remained more or less stable with gross non-performing assets ratio falling a tad to 7.02% of the total loans at the end of December from 7.15%. Net NPA rose to 2.21% from 1.86% over the same period.
In absolute terms, GNPA was at Rs 8136 crore against Rs 6965 crore while the bank’s loan portfolio grew 18.6% year-on-year to Rs 1.16 lakh crore.
The total deposit book grew 14.8% year-on-year to Rs.1.17 lakh crore with the share of current and savings accounts (CASA) being at 36.1% against 36.4% a year back.
