Indian Bank on Wednesday reported over a two-fold rise in net profit at Rs 358.56 crore for the second quarter, ending September 30 this year.
The city-based bank had posted a net profit of Rs 150.1 crore in the year-ago quarter.
Total income increased to Rs 6,045.32 crore for the September quarter from Rs 5,129.16 crore in the same period last year, the bank said.
Indian Bank Managing Director and CEO Padmaja Chunduru said the focus has been on business growth, earnings, profitability and asset quality.
"Operating profit, net profit, return on assets, return on equity, all have registered a very strong growth. We have also made sure provisional coverage ratio is improved", she told reporters.
Asset quality remained stable with the gross Non Performing Assets (NPAs) marginally rising 7.20 per cent of the advances as on end-September 2019 against 7.16 per cent by September 2018.
However, net NPAs declined to 3.54 per cent of the advances at the end of the second quarter of this fiscal, from 4.23 per cent in the year-ago period, she said.
The bank's provisioning for bad loans and contingencies declined to Rs 909.36 crore for the quarter under review, from Rs 1,004.3 crore in second quarter of 2018-19.
Provision for bad loans too declined to Rs 720.90 crore for the July-September quarter, from Rs 752.47 crore in the year-ago period.
Chunduru said the bank as a first step has been able to maintain asset quality and to prevent slippages.
"That has been set now (maintain asset quality). We are able to arrest slippages across the segment", she said, adding the focus was to build the balance sheet resilience and make sure Indian Bank continues to enjoy the pre-eminent position it has.
To a query about the amalgamation of the bank with Allahabad Bank and impact on the balance sheet following the merger, she said the respective banks were working on it and it would take one or two quarters to go through the process.
"We should continue to be strong. We have issued RFPs (request for proposal), valuation...and all that process is going on", she said.
She said the bank conducted 'Townhall meeting' with employees of Allahabad Bank and their customers in Chennai and also in Vijayawada and it was a very successful initiative.
"It is a good model in meeting people and allaying all apprehensions. We plan it to take it forward. There is a lot of trust that has been built", she said.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on August 30 had announced the consolidation of 10 state-run banks into four large-scale lenders.
Last month, the board of Allahabad Bank had approved the merger proposal with Indian Bank, making the amalgamated entity into seventh largest public sector lender in the country.
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