Lakshmi Vilas Bank posts loss in Q4 as NPA provisions rise

Private lender Lakshmi Vilas Bank today reported a net loss of Rs 622.25 crore for the last quarter of 2017-18 due to multi-fold jump in provisioning for bad loans. The bank had registered a net profit of Rs 52.16 crore in the January-March period of 2016-17.

Income during the quarter ended March 2018 also fell by 14.3 percent to Rs 740.90 crore as against Rs 864.99 crore in year ago period, the bank said in a release.

Provisions for bad loans and contingencies were raised to Rs 921.41 crore in the quarter, a jump of almost nine-time from Rs 108.19 crore kept aside in the same period of preceding fiscal.

For the full year, the bank posted a net loss of Rs 584.87 crore against a net profit of Rs 256.07 crore in 2016-17, it said.

Income stood at Rs 3,388.43 crore in 2017-18 against Rs 3,349.43 crore in 2016-17.

Gross non-performing assets (NPA) as a percentage of gross loans rose to 9.98 percent as on March 31, 2018, from 2.67 percent by end-March 2017.

Net NPAs rose to 5.66 percent from 1.76 percent. In absolute-terms, gross NPAs were at Rs 2,694.21 crore by the end of March 2018 against Rs 640.19 crore at end-March 2017. Net NPAs were Rs 1,457.89 crore from Rs 418.42 crore.

The provision coverage ratio stood at 55.07 by end of March 2018.

The bank said slippages partially increased due to shifting of some of the restructure accounts to NPA as per the RBI direction. NCLT cases were about Rs 584.33 crore and gems and jewellery account exposure was about Rs 30 crore.