IDFC First Bank Q3 net profit doubles to Rs 605 crore on growth in income

IDFC First Bank reported a two-fold jump in its net profit to Rs 605 crore for the quarter ending December 2022, driven by growth in operating income

IDFC First Bank on Saturday reported a two-fold jump in its net profit to Rs 605 crore for the quarter ending December 2022, driven by growth in operating income.

The private sector bank had reported a profit of Rs 281 crore for the October-December period of 2021-22.

The bank's total income increased to Rs 7,064.30 crore in the third quarter this fiscal from Rs 5,197.79 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2021-22, IDFC First Bank said in a stock exchange filing.

The bank further said customer deposits increased by 44 per cent from Rs 85,818 crore as of December 31, 2021, to Rs 1,23,578 crore at end-December 31, 2022.

CASA deposits grew by 39 per cent year-on-year from Rs 47,859 crore as of December 2021 to Rs 66,498 crore as of December 2022.

On the asset quality, it said the gross NPA improved from 3.96 per cent at end-December 2021 to 2.96 per cent as of December 2022.

The Net NPA at quarter ending December 2022 improved to 1.03 per cent from 1.74 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

Net interest income (NII) grew 27 per cent year-on-year from Rs 2,580 crore in the third quarter of 2021-22 to Rs 3,285 crore in October-December quarter of the current fiscal.

Fee and other income grew by 50 per cent annually to Rs 1,117 crore in the quarter ending December 2022.

"... we have registered our highest ever profit of Rs 605 crore in Q3-FY23 and our return on equity has now moved firmly into double digits," said V Vaidyanathan, Managing Director and CEO, IDFC FIRST Bank.

He further said a strong foundation has been built for the bank with CASA ratio at 50 per cent and strong retail deposit franchise contributing 77 per cent of the overall customer deposits.

Net profit for the nine months of 2022-23 increased to Rs 1,635 crore from net loss of Rs 197 crore in April-December 2021-22.

The bank further said while the core operating income (NII plus fees, excluding trading gains) grew 32 per cent to Rs 4,402 crore in the December quarter of 2022-23, the operating expense grew slower than income growth at only 23 per cent, thus resulting in improved operating leverage.

Consequently, the Core Operating Profit (excluding trading gains) grew by 64 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1,225 crore for the October-December quarter of 2022-23.