 "Lakshmi Vilas Bank net profit up 45% at Rs 65 cr")
The total income grew by 19 per cent to Rs 830.29 crore during the quarter, as against Rs 697.88 crore posted during the corresponding quarter of previous fiscal year.
The cost of funding has been declining in the past months. Decrease in overall interest rates and increase in other income have helped the bank post better numbers, said Parthasarathi Mukherjee, managing director and CEO of the bank.
"We are delighted with our results. Despite a very difficult situation, the bank has put in a sterling performance," he said. He added that the bank expects the business to be better during the second half of the fiscal year.
Non-performing assets surged due to a bill disounting fraud of Rs 75 crore and slippage of an account of a food processing unit to the tune of Rs 61 crore. In one of the branches, a series of bills were discounted in good faith, and the underlying transactions were found not genuine, he said. The transactions were some trading business transactions, he added.
The gross NPA stood at Rs 546.1 crore (2.70 as a percentage) during the quarter as compared to Rs 331.80 crore (1.89%) during the corresponding quarter.
The net NPA increased to Rs 376.06 crore (1.87 as a percentage) as against Rs 175.61 (1.01%) during the same quarter last year.
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The Board of Directors has approved issuance of equity shares of Rs 10 each upto the limit approved by the shareholders, through Quailified Institutional Placement, and has authorised the Capital Raising Committee to determine the form, timing of the issue and issue price.
The bank has approval to issue 4.2 crore shares in different tranches. Mukherjee said that the fund raising is required as the level of capital adequacy ratio is low at 10.10 per cent. According to reports, the bank has been planning to raise around Rs 500 crore.