Core income lifts Axis net 18 per cent to Rs 2,181 crore

Axis Bank today reported an 18 per cent increase in the March quarter net profit at Rs 2,181 crore, driven by a jump in core income on the back of a 22 per cent spike in advances.
But the third-largest private lender warned that troubles on the asset quality front are far from over.
The Shikha Sharma-led bank reported a net interest income of Rs 3,799 crore, up 20 per cent, while the other income fared better with a 21.41 per cent growth at Rs 2,687 crore, which flowed from a 27 per cent jump in trading profit and 19 per cent increase in fee income.

For the full fiscal, the city-based lender registered a credit growth of 22 per cent backed up by retail, which was up 27 per cent on solid showing in mortgaged and unsecured product lines, while corporate lending went up 20 per cent.
For FY16, it's targeting advances' growth to moderate to 18-20 per cent, with retail growth at 25 per cent and corporate banking growth at 17 per cent.
Total income of the bank rose to Rs 9,697 crore during the quarter from the earlier Rs 7,965 crore.

On the asset quality front, Executive Director and Head of Corporate Banking V Srinivasan said FY16 will be "challenging" as the bank expects an increase in credit cost, or a percentage of provisioning, to 0.80 per cent from 0.75 per cent in FY15.

However, the bank is expecting fresh accretion to bad assets to be lower in the current year.
The bank has managed to do better on the Rs 6,500 crore guidance for fresh bad assets addition in FY15.
In the reporting quarter, the bank witnessed slippages of Rs 610 crore, including Rs 150 crore from already restructured loans.
Srinivasan said the next two quarters will continue to be challenging with stress emanating from sectors like gems and jewellery, construction and infrastructure.
For the reporting quarter, the bank restructured Rs 1,540 crore of its advances and has a pipeline of another Rs 500 crore from up to three accounts, Srinivasan said.

There was an increase in provisions to Rs 709.82 crore as against Rs 505.23 crore, Chief Financial Officer S K Gupta said, attributing it to a Rs 133-crore hit from provisions on unhedged currency exposures of clients after a rule change by the Reserve Bank.