Central Bank of India net profit jumps 55% in Q2

Public sector Central Bank of India on Tuesday reported an over 55 percent jump in net profit at Rs 250 crore for the quarter ended September.

The lender had posted a net profit of Rs 161 crore during the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

However, total income of the bank during July-September period of 2021-22 was down at Rs 6,503.39 crore, as against Rs 6,762.36 crore in the year-ago period, it said in a regulatory filing.

Net interest income rose 5.99 percent to Rs 2,495 crore, as against Rs 2,354 crore earlier.

Net interest margin (NIM) improved from 3.21 percent to 3.36 percent on a year-on-year basis, registering an improvement of 15 basis points, it added.

On the asset quality front, net non-performing assets (NPAs or bad loans) reduced to 4.51 percent as of September 30, 2021, from 5.60 percent by end of the same month last year.

Gross NPAs moderated to 15.52 percent from 17.36 percent.

Also, the bank's cost of deposit declined to 3.84 percent from 4.45 percent for the reported quarter.

However, there was a slight uptick in provisions and contingencies for the quarter at Rs 1,048.52 crore, as against Rs 1,033.34 crore parked aside in the September 2020 quarter.

The state-owned lender said its slippage ratio stood at 1.45 percent as against 0.08 percent as there was a moratorium granted by RBI due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the June 2021 quarter, it was 0.95 percent.

"Slippage ratio during the quarter increased due to slippage of two corporate accounts of Rs 1,150 crore. Had these accounts not slipped during the quarter then the slippage ratio for Q2FY22 would have been 0.67 percent," the bank said in a release.

Total business stood at Rs 5,12,094 crore as on September 30, 2021, compared to Rs 5,00,737 crore earlier, registering a growth of Rs 11,357 crore (2.27 percent) year-on-year.

Total deposits have increased by Rs 13,056 crore and stood at Rs 3,36,500 crore at the end of the quarter, from Rs 3,23,444 crore in the year-ago period, reflecting an increase of 4.04 percent, it added.