Lower provisioning and a modest growth in net interest income helped Bangalore-based public sector lender Vijaya Bank register robust growth of 54.2 per cent in net profit, at Rs 111 crore, for the quarter ended June 30, compared with Rs 72 crore a year earlier. The total income of the bank for the quarter increased 18.7 per cent to Rs 2,320 crore, compared with Rs 1,953 crore reported in the corresponding period last year. The operating profit declined 20.4 per cent to Rs 259 crore against Rs 325.5 crore reported in the year-ago period.
The net interest income showed a modest growth of 7.5 per cent at Rs 455 crore in the June quarter against Rs 423 crore reported in the last corresponding period. The bank has made a provision of Rs 130 crore against Rs 231 crore, a decline of 43.7 per cent.
The cost of deposits went up to 8 per cent against 7.3 per cent, while its yield on advances rose marginally to 11.6 per cent from 11.3 per cent in June quarter last year. As a result, the net interest margin came under pressure and declined to 2.1 per cent as against 2.3 per cent a year ago.
“Efforts to improve asset quality and containing the expenses as well as percentage of delinquent assets at below March 2012 levels helped us report overall good numbers for the June quarter,” H S Upendra Kamath, chairman and managing director of Vijaya Bank, said.
He said the bank’s advances grew 16 per cent year-on-year and stood at Rs 59,306 crore during the June quarter. The bank is looking at a credit growth of 17 per cent for the full year.
The return on assets marginally improved at 0.5 per cent against 0.3 per cent in the June quarter last year. The capital adequacy ratio also improved marginally at 13.3 per cent. The percentage of net non-performing assets stood at 1.67 per cent against 1.65 per cent.
