South Indian Bank Q4 profit jumps 51%

South Indian Bank on Monday reported a jump of 51% in net profit at Rs114.10 crore for March quarter on healthy interest income and less provisioning for bad loans.

The bank’s net profit during January-March, 2016-17 stood at Rs75.54 crore. Income during March quarter of 2017-18 rose to Rs1,767.65 crore as against Rs1,608.42 crore in the year-ago period, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

Interest income was higher by 8% to Rs1,588.98 crore from Rs1,470.71 crore earlier. Even as the lender’s bad assets were on the rise, its provisioning for bad loans and contingencies in the reported quarter was reduced to Rs148.63 crore as against Rs165.30 crore in the year-ago period.

On asset front, the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 3.59% of the gross advances as on 31 March 2018 from 2.45% as on March-end 2017.

In absolute terms, the gross NPAs were valued at Rs1,980.30 crore by end of 2017-18 from Rs1,149.01 crore a year ago. Net NPAs also increased to 2.60% (Rs1,415.80 crore) from 1.45% (Rs674.56 crore).

Meanwhile, the bank’s board recommended a dividend of Rs0.40 per equity share or 40% for 2017-18. For the entire fiscal, the net profit however fell 15% to Rs334.89 crore from Rs392.50 crore in 2016-17. Total income during the year was higher at Rs7,030.06 crore, compared with Rs6,562.64 crore in 2016-17.

The provisioning coverage for bad loans and contingencies for the year was also higher at Rs980.90 crore against Rs614.37 crore a year ago. The private sector lender said it identified certain irregularities in the nature of fraud at one of the branches and the loss is determined at Rs25.02 crore (earlier Rs28.50 crore).

On divergence in asset classification and provisioning for NPAs for 2016-17, the bank said the gap with respect to gross NPAs was Rs8.39 crore. While for net NPAs, the divergence came in at negative Rs15.13 crore.

Taking into account the divergence in provisioning of Rs137.98 crore for the fiscal, the adjusted net profit for 2016-17 was reduced to Rs293.91 crore from Rs392.50 crore reported earlier. “The bank has duly considered the impact of the divergences...One account classified as NPA by the regulator stands upgraded to standard category upon regularisation of irregularity in that account,” the lender said.