Tamilnad Mercantile Bank shares gained 1 percent on April 24 after the company recorded double-digit growth in profitability due to sharp fall in provisions for bad loans. The stock closed at Rs 407.85 on the NSE.
The private sector lender has clocked 11.5 percent year-on-year growth in profit at Rs 253 crore for quarter ended March FY23, as provisions and contingencies dropped 61 percent to Rs 57.2 crore in the same period, though sequentially, provisions and contingencies surged 74 percent.
Net interest income -- the difference between interest earned and interest expended -- grew by 8.1 percent to Rs 527.3 crore compared to the corresponding period in the last fiscal year, with net interest margin improving by 9 bps to 4.49 percent at the end of March FY23.
Asset quality also improved with the gross non-performing assets as a percentage of gross advances falling 31 bps sequentially to 1.39 percent. and net NPAs declining 130 bps QoQ to 0.62 percent, as of March FY23.
The provision coverage ratio improved as well, from 89.83 percent as of December FY23 to 90.90 percent March FY23.
However, its non-interest income fell 14 percent year-on-year to Rs 183.93 crore and pre-provision operating profit also declined 5.15 percent to Rs 404.41 crore for March FY23 quarter.
For the financial year 2022-23, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank said it has recorded highest ever profit at Rs 1,029 crore, growing 25 percent over the previous year.
The bank also has reported highest ever operating profit and net interest income for the year at Rs 1,573 crore and Rs 2,094 crore, rising 4 percent and 15 percent over the previous year, respectively.
"We have deposits at Rs 47,766 crore at the end of March FY23, rising 6 percent over the previous year, while advances in the same period grew by 11 percent to Rs 37,582 crore," the bank said in its filing to exchanges.