Indian Bank net profit falls 43% in Q4, says asset quality improving

Indian Bank’s net profit dropped 43 per cent in in the fourth quarter of financial year 2021-22 to Rs 984 crore, compared to Rs 1,709 crore the same period the last financial year.

The state-owned bank’s total income this time was up 9 per cent to Rs 11,405 crore, as against Rs 10,485 crore during the fourth quarter of 2020-21. “We are seeing our asset quality continuously improving. Our operating profit is also growing. We have seen an improvement in net interest margins (NIM) too,” said S L Jain, managing director and chief executive officer of the bank.

During the quarter, net profit includes a DTA of Rs 913 crore (for entire FY21). During the financial year 2021-22, the bank posted a 31 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 3,945 crore compared to Rs 3,005 crore in 2020-21.

During the quarter, operating profit of the bank increased by 15 per cent to Rs 2738 crore as compared to Rs 2,385 crore during the same quarter last fiscal. Net interest income (NII) grew by 28 per cent to Rs 4,255 crore from Rs 3,334 crore in the year-ago period. Non-interest income dipped marginally by 1 per cent to Rs 1,573 crore as compared to Rs 1,581 crore during the same quarter last fiscal.

Gross non-performing assets ratio improved to 8.47 per cent as against 9.85 per cent. Net NPAs stood at 2.27 per cent as against 3.37 per cent in Q4 of 2020-21. Fresh slippages during the quarter were at Rs 2,298 crore. Total slippages by the end of Q4 was around Rs 3,298 crore, out of which Rs 851 crore came from one retail account, Jain added. During the quarter under review, the bank’s recovery of bad debts was seen down by 38 per cent to Rs 197 crore.  The domestic net interest margin (NIM) during the fourth quarter was 2.87 per cent as against 2.34 during the same period last financial year.

Advances grew by 6 per cent to Rs 415,625 crore in March 2022 over Rs 390.317 crore a year ago, driven primarily by the growth in RAM sector (11 per cent); of which Retail, Agriculture and MSME grew by 15 per cent, 12 per cent and 6 per cent respectively.