AU Small Finance Bank reports highest quarterly profit of Rs 425 cr in Q4

AU Small Finance Bank on Tuesday reported its highest ever quarterly profit of Rs 425 crore in March quarter, up 23 per cent year-on-year.

The bank's net profit was Rs 346 crore in the year-ago quarter.

It's net profit for the full financial year 2022-23 stood at Rs 1,428 crore, up 26 per cent year-on-year, the lender said in a statement.

Bank's asset quality improved with gross NPA at 1.66 per cent in March 2023 as against 1.98 per cent in March 2022.

Net NPA stood at 0.42 per cent of net advances in March 2023 as against 0.50 per cent in the year-ago period.

It further said the net interest margin for 2022-23 was maintained at 6.1 per cent (including assigned/securitised book).

Bank's total balance sheet grew by 31 per cent year-on-year to Rs 90,216 crore. Deposits grew by 32 per cent year-on-year to Rs 69,365 crore.

"Amidst a difficult market, we have managed to grow our deposit book while keeping our CASA ratio stable and making our deposits more granular and retail. Our asset quality has also improved further this year with net NPA coming down to 0.4 per cent," said Sanjay Agarwal, MD & CEO, AU Small Finance Bank.

The bank's total capital adequacy stood at a healthy 23.6 per cent as against minimum requirement of 15 per cent, of which tier-I capital stood at 21.8 per cent as against minimum requirement 7.5 per cent.

The board of directors of the bank has recommended a dividend of Rs 1 per equity shares (10 per cent of face value) from the net profit for the year ended March 2023, subject to approval of shareholders.

AU started its banking operations in April 2017 and as on March 31, 2023, it has established operations across 1,027 banking touchpoints.