Bandhan Bank report 36% rise in net profit

Fall in bad loan provisions helped report a 36 per cent rise in net profit at Rs 859 crore in the third quarter to December 31, 2021 against Rs 633 crore in the year ago period with bank management saying that the asset quality stress reached its peak.

"The stress in the system has considerably reduced and this will lead to reduction in NPAs going forward," said managing director Chandra Shekhar Ghosh. He said that collection efficiency in Assam and West Bengal -- the two states which saw high build up of asset quality stress -- has improved.

The bank's gross NPA ratio was at 10.81 per cent at the end of December, almost flat when compared with 10.82 percent three months back. Gross NPA was merely 1.1 per cent at the end of December 2020.

The lender made a lower provision of 806 crore in the period under review against Rs 1078 crore in the year ago period. It wrote off loans worth Rs 1215 crore in the quarter while fresh slippages net of recovery from stressed accounts was at Rs 1893 crore.

Operating profit rose 1.4 per cent at Rs 1950 crore against Rs 1923 crore. Net interest income rose 9.8 per cent at Rs 2125 crore.

Net interest margin was at 7.8 per cent compared with 8.3 per cent a year back.

The bank's total Advances grew by 9.6 per cent to Rs 87,998 crore at the end of December while total deposits jumped 18.7 per cent to Rs 84,500 crore.