South Indian Bank Q4 net profit up 23% at Rs 334 cr as advances grow

South Indian Bank (SIB) on Thursday posted a 23 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 334 crore in the fourth quarter of Financial Year 2022-23 (Q4 FY23), compared to Rs 272 crore during the same period in 2021-22.

The Thrissur-based bank’s operating profit in Q4 FY23 was up 95 per cent at Rs 562 crore compared to Rs 288 crore in fourth quarter of FY22. Net interest income in Q4 FY23 went up by 4 per cent: from Rs 825 crore last year to Rs 857 crore this year.

During the entire FY23, it registered a multi-fold jump in net profit from Rs 45 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 775 crore in 2022-23. The bank’s operating profit increased by 21 per cent: from Rs 1,249 crore in FY22 to Rs. 1,507 crore in FY23. Recovery and upgradation in non-performing accounts (NPA) increased from Rs 1,464 crore in FY22 to Rs 1,814 crore in FY23.

The bank’s gross non performing asset in Q4 FY23 came down by 76 bps from 5.90 per cent to 5.14 per cent on a year-on-year basis. On the other hand, NNPA dropped by 111 bps from 2.97 per cent to 1.86 per cent on a YoY basis. The bank’s board of directors recommended 30 per cent dividend subject to approval of the shareholders.

Murali Ramakrishnan, SIB’s managing director and chief executive officer, said the bank in Q4 FY23 registered growth in all segments by focusing on building quality assets across all verticals like corporate, SME, auto loan, credit card, personal loan and gold loan. He said in line with the strategy of “profitability through quality credit growth”, the bank could churn around 58 per cent of its advances portfolio since October 2020 amounting to Rs. 41,566 crore with a GNPA of only 0.09 per cent.

In FY23, the bank’s gross advances increased by 17 per cent from Rs 61,816 crore last year to Rs 72,092 crore in 2022-23. CASA grew by 2 per cent on a Y-o-Y basis. On the other hand, retail deposits grew by 5 per cent and NRI deposits grew by 3 per cent during the year.