Still reeling from note ban, Ujjivan Fin Services' Q3 net falls 34%

However, asset quality improves as gross NPAs drop to 4.24%

Bangalore-based Ujjivan Financial Services saw a consolidated net profit of Rs 293 million for the quarter ended December 2017. This is a sharp fall of nearly 34% as against Rs 439 million in year-ago period.

Gross loan book grew by 7.71% to Rs 70.95 billion, while disbursements grew by 28.35% to Rs 21.34 billion as compared to December 2016.

The asset quality improved over the last September quarter with gross non-performing assets (GNPA) dropping to 4.24% as against 4.99% in September 2017. However, this is a steep rise against GNPA of 0.25% in December 2016.

“Loan book was impacted by demonetisation. While the effects are fading and the customers have began to repay regularly, there is a lag effect of the previous quarters," said Sudha Suresh, Managing Director and chief executive, Ujjivan Financial Services.

The company’s new business from January 2017 is at 99.7% collection efficiency and constitutes 78% of the portfolio.  Suresh added that the small finance bank is back to its pre-demonetisation efficiency levels.

The provision coverage ratio stood at 76.3% for the quarter under review.

The bank saw an addition of 188,000 new borrowers  during the quarter under review, raising total borrower base to 3.7 million.