IDBI Bank Q3 bottomline darts up 33% to Rs 36 crore

IDBI Bank has posted a net profit of Rs 36.3 crore in the third quarter of fiscal 2004, reflecting a 32.5 per cent increase against Rs 27.4 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Total income rose 24.2 per cent to Rs 138.9 crore (Rs 111.8 crore). The increase in the private bank's bottomline and total income stems largely from core banking business, said IDBI Bank's chief financial officer Jayant Mehrotra.

IDBI Bank's net interest income (NII) and fee based income in the third quarter rose to Rs 88.8 crore (against Rs 53.1 crore in October-December 2002) and Rs 46.5 crore (Rs 34.1 crore).

The bank's scrip rose by 5.8 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange to close at Rs 55.65 on Tuesday. "The dependence on volatile business is reducing," said Mehrotra, as the bank's trading income dropped by 85.4 per cent in the third quarter to Rs 3.6 crore against Rs 24.6 crore in corresponding quarter of fiscal 2002-03.

"We are a risk-adverse bank, which prefers to build business with minimum focus on volatile income," he added. In the nine months to December 2003, IDBI Bank's net profit rose by 73.4 per cent to Rs 94.8 crore, as net interest income rose by about 60 per cent.

This follows the 49 per cent growth in customer assets to Rs 7,597 crore, led by 195 per cent increase in retail assets. While the retail to corporate book ratio stands at 40:60, the growth has been more marked in the retail sector than in the corporate sector.

"Good quality credit in the corporate sector has yet to take off," said Mehrotra. IDBI Bank has been able to reduce its net non-performing assets (NPAs) even after applying the 90-day NPA norm. The ratio has dropped to 0.4 per cent from 1.2 per cent. In absolute terms, net NPAs amount to Rs 26 crore.