Private sector lender Yes Bank today said it has reported a 9.6 per cent jump in its net profit at Rs 439.5 crore for the first quarter ended June 2014, driven by higher net interest income.
The bank had reported a profit after tax of Rs 400.8 crore in the year ago quarter.
"Profits were higher, driven by a 13 per cent increase in net interest income," Yes Bank Chief Financial Officer Rajat Monga told reporters here.
He said the profit would have been higher by around 10 per cent in Q1 had it got the similar gains it had realised on account trading in the year ago quarter.
"We had booked about Rs 100-125 crore of gains on account of interest rates falling, resulting from price improvement in government securities and corporate bonds. That opportunity was not present this year," Monga said.
Net interest income, which is the interest earned minus interest paid, grew 13.1 per cent to Rs 745.3 crore in the reporting quarter as against Rs 659.1 crore year ago.
Net interest margin, the spread between what it pays on deposits and what it earns from on-lending, remained stable at 3 per cent.
"Margin will continue to be stable with marginally biased towards improvement. As the casa position improves, we will hopefully report a 10-15 basis points jump in margins in the next quarter as we have raised equity," Monga said.
The bank raised USD 500 million through qualified institutional placement in May this year.
In the quarter, the bank saw its asset quality deteriorating, with gross non performing assets rising to 0.33 per cent from 0.22 per cent, and net NPAs at 0.07 per cent as against 0.03 per cent last year.
"I don't see a trend (in NPAs) of rising further. We see a trend of stable to lower NPAs going forward," Monga said.
The bank's scrip ended 1.72 per cent down at Rs 536.65 on the BSE today.
