ESAF Small Finance Bank Q4 PBT up 42% at Rs 74 cr, income rises 32%

Full-year PBT doubles to Rs 256.26 crore from Rs 127.18 crore

Kerala-based ESAF Small Finance Bank has posted 42 per cent growth in Profit Before Tax (PBT) to Rs 73.67 crore during the quarter ended March 31. 2020, from Rs 51.89 crore during the same quarter of last year. The total income for the quarter stood at Rs 418.07 crore compared to Rs 317.87 crore during same quarter of last year, an increase of 31.5 per cent.

For the whole year ended March 31, 2020, the PBT doubled to Rs 256.26 crore from Rs 127.18 crore a year ago. Total income for the whole year stood at Rs 1,546.44 crore as against Rs 1,140.79 crore for the previous financial year.

K Paul Thomas, managing director and CEO of the Small Finance Bank, said, “The encouraging results show the strong performance of the bank despite the slowdown in the market. Also, the growth in the business has not affected the asset quality.”

Business during the year was up 49.05 per cent to touch Rs 13,846 crore. The deposits registered an increase of 62.81 per cent to Rs 7,028 crore and advances (Assets Under Management) rose by 37.11 per cent to Rs 6,818 crore. 

 

Gross NPAs reduced from 1.61 per cent to 1.53 per cent and Net NPA from 0.77 per cent to 0.64 per cent during the year. Also, the provision coverage ratio improved to 79.93 per cent from 78.45 per cent during the previous year.

The Bank said that its capital position of the bank is at 24.03 per cent with Tier-1 CRAR of 20.99 per cent as against regulatory requirement of 15 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively. The bank has sufficient capital cushion for it’s medium term business plan and also has enough headroom under Tier II, it added.

It has filed Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of Rs 976 crore in January, 2020.

At present, it has presence in 17 states and one Union Territory in India. As on March 31, 2020, the Bank is serving 35 lakh customer base through 454 branches and 14 Business Correspondent Entities and is operating 222 ATMs across the country.