Syndicate Bank Q2 net loss at Rs 1,543 cr on higher bad loan provisions

State-owned Syndicate Bank reported a net loss of Rs 1,542.54 crore in second quarter ended September 30, mainly due to rise in provisioning for bad loans.

The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 105.24 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

Its net loss stood at Rs 1,281.77 crore in the first quarter this fiscal.

Total income of the bank also fell to Rs 5,888.87 crore for the reported quarter, as against Rs 6,419.21 crore in the same period a year ago, Syndicate Bank said in a regulatory filing.

The bank's bad loans rose for the quarter with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) hitting 12.98 percent of the gross advances at September-end 2018 from 9.39 percent at the same time in 2017.

Net NPAs also rose to 6.83 percent as against 5.76 percent a year ago.

In value terms, the gross bad loans (or NPAs) stood at Rs 27,131.14 crore as on September 30, 2018 as against Rs 20,176.64 crore by end of September 2017. Net NPAs were at Rs 13,321.30 crore as against Rs 11,894.30 crore.

Thus, the provisions for bad loans during the quarter rose to Rs 1,622.46 crore in this fiscal from Rs 734.64 crore for the same quarter of 2017-18.

The overall provisions and contingencies was at Rs 2,217.26 crore for the quarter, up from Rs 891.16 crore a year ago.

Provision coverage ratio was at Rs 64.02 percent as on September 30, 2018, the bank said.

Meanwhile, the board also approved increase in the limit to raise capital up to Rs 500 crore by issuing and allotting up to 30 crore equity shares to eligible employees under Employee Stock Purchase Scheme (ESPS), the bank said.

"This includes the earlier approval of the shareholders in the extra-ordinary general meeting held on October 29 to raise capital aggregating to Rs 250 crore by issuance and allotment of 9 crore equity shares," it added.