State-run lender Central Bank of India today reported a marginal increase of around 7 per cent in its net profit at Rs 174 crore in the January-March, helped by lower provisioning, higher cash recoveries and better margins.
The bank had reported a net profit of Rs 162 crore in the same quarter last year.
"The growth in profit was on account of lower slippages, provision were low, cash recoveries were good and our net interest margins also improved," bank's Executive Director R K Goyal told reporters here today.
Net interest margins in the quarter improved to 2.88 per cent from 2.76 per cent in the year-ago quarter.
Provision for non performing assets (NPAs) decreased to Rs 592 crore from Rs 653 crore in the same quarter last year.
Fresh slippages in the quarter also decline to Rs 1,471 crore from Rs 2,034 crore in the year-ago period.
Recoveries in the three month to March more than doubled to Rs 635 crore from Rs 245 crore year ago.
For the full year, the net profit stood at Rs 606 crore as against a loss of Rs 1,263 crore in the previous year.
Gross NPA stood at 6.09 per cent from 6.27 per cent while net NPAs were at 3.61 per cent from 3.75 per cent.
"We have kept a guidance of 5.25 per cent for GNPAs and 2.20 per cent for net NPAs in the current financial year," Goyal said.
The bank wrote off Rs 648 crore of loan in the quarter as against Rs 382 crore in the year ago period.
It upgraded Rs 53 crore worth of loans compared to Rs 228 crore last year. Total restructuring in the January-MArch period stood at Rs 1,653 crore.
The city-based lender sold Rs 55 crore of bad loans to asset reconstruction companies in the fourth quarter.
Total business of the bank increased to Rs 4,50,539 crore, up 6.41 per cent from Rs 4,23,390 crore in March 2014.
Deposits grew 6.46 per cent to Rs 2,55,572 crore while advances rose 6.35 per cent at Rs 1,94,967 crore in the year.
The bank is targeting a deposit growth of 14.87 per cent and loan growth of 9.21 per cent in current fiscal.
It is also looking at raising Rs 2,800 crore this year through qualified institutional placement or follow-on public offer or through rights issue.
The bank's scrip ended 2.06 per cent down at Rs 109.40 on the BSE which closed today at 26,877.48, down 2.29 per cent.
