Loan exposure to the troubled infra financier IL&FS continued to depress Indusind Bank's earnings for the second quarter in a row, as provisions for this account has led to the lender on Wednesday reporting a sharp decline in profit growth in the December quarter.

The bank managed a paltry 5 per cent increase in net income at Rs 985 crore for the third quarter of the fiscal year on the impact of a Rs 255-crore provision on its IL&FS exposure, which had yanked down its bottomline growth to a tepid 4.6 per cent in the September quarter as well.

The crippled company,  being run by a government appointed board from October, owes Rs 3,000 crore to the bank and has not been servicing it from October, making it an SMA 2 account.

The Hinduja group-controlled bank was known for booking 20-25 per cent profit growth quarter after quarter for years. Even during the note-ban quarter the one after it, the lender had one of the best sets of numbers.

And signalling more troubles for the days ahead, managing director and chief executive Romesh Sobti guided towards more provisions in the March quarter, the exact quantum of which will be known only after the bank assessed the likely impact of the IL&FS saga in toto, But he said they have already built a buffer of Rs 600 crore to cushion nay negative surprises.

The overall provisions for the quarter stood at Rs 607 crore, almost three-times higher from Rs 237 crore in the year-ago period and but marginally higher from Rs 590 crore in the preceding quarter. He said of the bank's Rs 3,000-crore exposure to the IL&FS Group, Rs 2,000 crore are to the crippled parent and the bank is analysing the realisable value of the collateral securities to decide on the extent of additional buffer.