Corporation Bank net up 8.4% to Rs 45 crore in Q4

Total income up 7% to Rs 5,385 cr, gross NPAs rise to 4.81% from 3.42%

Mangaluru-based public sector lender Corporation Bank on Saturday reported 8.4 per cent growth in net profit at Rs 45 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2015 compared to Rs 41.5 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The total income for the quarter went up 7 per cent to Rs 5,385 crore compared to Rs 5,033 crore in the year ago quarter.

The operating profit for the fourth quarter went up 52 per cent to Rs 965 crore from Rs 637 crore a year ago.

The rise in net profit was on account of a 23 per cent jump in net interest income at Rs 1,114 crore as against Rs 907 crore a year ago. The net interest margin improved to 2.26 per cent from 1.91 per cent a year ago.

The bank recorded 6 per cent growth in credit at Rs 145,066 crore compared to Rs 137,086 crore in the same quarter last year. The total business increased 4.22 per cent to Rs 344,412 crore from Rs 330,479 crore in the March quarter of 2014.

Gross non-performing assets went up to 4.81 per cent from 3.42 per cent, while the net non-performing assets increased to 3.08 per cent from 2.32 per cent in the same quarter last year. The return on assets remained static at 0.08 per cent year-on-year. The capital adequacy ratio under Basel-III dipped to 11.09 per cent from 11.64 per cent.

The Board has recommended dividend of 70 per cent (Rs 1.40 per share of Rs 2 each) for the year ended March 31, 2015.

Due to sustained efforts, the bank was able to control and reduce the cost of deposits during the quarter. Hence, the interest expense on deposits was lower by Rs 107.54 crore (-2.94 per cent) over the third quarter of the financial year 2014-15.

Similarly, the bank has also undertaken many measures to control the operating cost which has started yielding results. Growth in Operating expenses for the FY 2014-15 is reduced to 8.72 per cent (Y-o-Y) as against 19.79 per cent previous financial year.

During the current quarter, the bank opened 100 branches and 112 ATMs across the country and despite that the Bank’s operating expenses increased by a marginal rate of 3.41 per cent over previous quarter i.e. Q4 over Q3.

During the fiscal year 2014-15, total deposits of the Bank increased to Rs 199,346 crore from Rs 193,393 crore as on March 31, 2014, exhibiting a y-o-y growth of 3.08 per cent.

CASA deposits was at Rs 39,315 crore as at March 2015 and CASA share to total deposits worked out to 19.72 per cent, the Bank said in a statement.