Bandhan Bank Q4: Profit falls 20% to Rs 517 crore on additional COVID-19 provisions

Private sector lender Bandhan Bank on May 12 reported a 20.5 percent year-on-year degrowth in Q4 FY20 profit due to additional provisions on account of COVID-19.

Profit for the quarter dropped to Rs 517.3 crore, against Rs 650.9 crore in the same period last year.

"In Q4 FY20, the bank has taken additional provision on standard assets on account of COVID-19 amounting to Rs 690 crore. With this provision and additional standard assets provision that bank is carrying in micro banking portfolio total additional provision in books stands at Rs 1,000 crore," said Bandhan in its BSE filing.

Hence, the provisions shot up 439.8 percent YoY (up 180.6 percent sequentially) to Rs 827.36 crore in the quarter ended March 2020.

Net interest income for the quarter grew sharply by 33.6 percent year-on-year to Rs 1,680 crore, with advances rising by 60.46 percent (to Rs 71,846 crore).

"Q4FY20 has been a satisfying quarter given the challenges faced during the quarter. During the quarter, the bank has showcased the strengths of its deposit franchise with continuously growing deposits in all the segments," Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Managing Director and CEO said.

Find All Earnings Related News Here

The sequential growth in advances was 9.76 percent, the bank said, adding deposits increased by 32.04 percent YoY (up 3.96 percent QoQ) to Rs 57,802 crore as on March 2020.

On the asset quality front, gross non-performing assets (NPA) as a percentage of gross advances falling 45 basis points sequentially to 1.48 percent and net NPA dipped 23 basis points to 0.58 percent in March quarter.

Non-interest income during the quarter grew by 29 percent to Rs 500.18 crore and pre-provision operating profit increased by 31.9 percent to Rs 1,520.69 crore compared to the same period last year.