 "Axis Bank net profit up 19%")
The net interest income, difference between interest earned and expended, increased 15 per cent to Rs 4,062 crore in the quarter ended September.
New deputy MD
Axis Bank has elevated V Srinivasan as the deputy managing director with an immediate effect.
Prior to this, Srinivasan was the whole-time director. He had joined the bank as executive director, corporate banking, in 2009. Later, he was elevated to the bank’s board in October 2012.
The bank has also appointed Rakesh Makhija as independent director effective from October 27. Makhija is the chairman of SKF India and is also on the boards of Tata Technologies, TML Drivelines and Elecon Engineering.
Other income, which includes income from fee, trading profit, etc., increased by only five per cent to Rs 2,041 crore. Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, executive director (Corporate Centre) and chief financial officer, said even though fee income inched up 14 per cent, trading income declined 38 per cent, leading to only a modest growth in other incomes.
Asset quality remained largely stable with gross non-performing assets (NPA) remaining flat on a sequential basis at 1.38 per cent in the quarter ended September. But, it increased marginally compared to 1.34 per cent in the corresponding quarter a year-ago. Net NPA was also unchanged at 0.48 per cent on a sequential basis but increased marginally compared to 0.44 per cent in the same quarter last year. The bank sold two assets worth Rs 1,850 crore to asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) in the July-September quarter.
On a sequential basis, provisions declined from Rs.1,121 crore in the quarter ended June. Gupta said this was because fresh slippages in the quarter ended September were recorded at Rs 583 crore against Rs 1,186 crore in the quarter ended June.
Net interest margin (NIM), a key indicator of bank’s profitability, declined by 12 basis points to 3.85 per cent as compared to the same quarter a year ago. The management explained that this decline in NIM was on account of base rate cut undertaken by the bank. The bank had reduced its base rate by 20 basis points in April and 10 basis points in June. For the full financial year, the lender expects the NIMs to be well above 3.5 per cent.
Advances during the quarter were up by 23 per cent year-on-year to Rs 2.98 lakh crore, driven by domestic retail loans and corporate credit. The bank remained well capitalised with a capital adequacy ratio of 14.37 per cent.
