Yes Bank Q4 results: Net profit declines 45%

Private lender Yes Bank Ltd on Saturday reported 45% drop in standalone net profit at Rs 202 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2023 as provisions for bad loans increased. The bank reported standalone net profit of Rs 367 crore in the year-ago period.

Prashant Kumar, MD & CEO, Yes Bank said: “Over the last three years, the Bank has significantly progressed on several strategic objectives such as strengthening of Governance and Compliance Standards, bolstering the Balance Sheet through granularity, addressing the asset quality concerns, building up a strong liability franchise and expanding the customer base.

"At the same time, with continuous focus on retail, we have continued to expand our footprints with new Branches, increased the employee headcount and stepped-up our investments in technology. Our Retail franchise has now reached a critical scale and is poised for profitable growth. With the current momentum of accelerated growth, the efficiency gains and operating leverage will naturally drive the Bank’s profitability upwards."

Yes Bank’s provisions and contingencies increased to Rs 618 crore from Rs 271 crore a year earlier.

The lender's asset quality was mixed. The gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio rose to 2.17% from 2.02% in the December quarter.

The gross NPA ratio was down from 13.93% a year earlier. In December Yes Bank completed the transfer of bad loans worth Rs 48,000 crore to private equity firm JC Flowers in a deal aimed at cleaning up its balance sheet.

The net NPA ratio was 0.83%, down from 1.03% in the prior three months.

Yes Bank's net interest income, the difference between the interest income from lending and that paid to depositors, rose 15.7% to Rs 2,105 crore from Rs 1,819.5 crore in the year-ago period. The net interest margin, a key indicator of a bank's profitability, rose to 2.8% from 2.5% a year earlier.

The private lender's net advances grew by 12.3% on year, led by retail loans, while deposits rose 10.3%.

Profits for both the March quarter and the fiscal year have been impacted by accelerated provisioning, the bank said.

For the entire fiscal FY23, the bank witnessed a 32.7% decline in its net profit at Rs 717 crore, it said in a regulatory filing.