Bandhan Bank Q1 net profit falls 32% to Rs 373 cr, asset quality weakens

Bandhan Bank on Friday reported 32 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 373.10 crore for June quarter 2021-22 as provisions for bad loans spiked.
 
The bank had posted a net profit of Rs  549.80 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
 
"In the first quarter, we had slippages and there was no write-off. In the same period of the previous financial year, there were no slippages, and the banking industry was given moratorium on repayment of loans," MD and CEO of Bandhan Bank, Chandra Sekhar Ghosh said.

Virtually addressing journalists, Ghosh said, the bank's performance was very challenging in the first quarter of the current fiscal, due to the second wave of the pandemic.
 
The rural and semi-urban areas were adversely impacted during this period, he said.
 
Total income however was up 20.4 per cent at Rs 2,647.50 crore in the quarter as against Rs 2,198.30 crore in the year-ago period, the bank said in a regulatory filing.
 
Bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) spiked to 8.2 per cent of gross advances as of June 30, 2021 from 1.4 per cent by June 2020.
 
Net NPAs (or bad loans) also jumped to 3.3 per cent from 0.5 per cent. Provisions for bad loans and contingencies rose to Rs 1,374.87 crore in the quarter from Rs 849.06 crore parked aside in the year-ago period.
Ghosh said the bank had restructured some of the accounts and hoped that regular payments will start once normal business activity resumes.
  
He said, bank employees were unable to go to customers for collecting instalments since the outbreak of Covid-19. 
 
“However, we have seen an improvement in collection performance in the first quarter of the current fiscal,” Ghosh added.
  
Bandhan Bank stock settled 0.43 per cent up at Rs 291.30 on BSE.