Central Bank of India on Friday reported widening of loss to a staggering Rs 16.64 billion for the third quarter ended December 31, 2017-18, on persisting bad loans. The state-owned bank had posted Rs 6.057 billion loss in the October-December quarter of 2016-17. Its total income decreased to Rs 65.89 billion during the quarter under review, as against Rs 67.87 billion in the year-ago period, the bank said in a regulatory filing. Asset quality of the bank further deteriorated as gross non-performing assets (NPAs) grew to 18.08 per cent of gross advances during the December quarter, as against 14.14 per cent in the year-ago period. Net NPAs stood at 9.45 per cent of net advances, up from 8.54 per cent a year ago. The provisioning for bad loans and contingencies was at Rs 34.27 billion during the quarter, slightly down from Rs 14.86 billion a year ago. Similarly, the provision for bad loans doubled to Rs 30.81 billion against Rs 15.71 billion in the same period a year ago.
