INDIAN BANK PBT JUMPS 75%

Indian Bank on Friday reported pre-tax profit (PBT) of ~390.35 crore during the quarter ended December 31, 2019 (Q3FY20), a growth rate of 74.8 per cent over the ~223.36-crore PBT posted in Q3FY19.

Other income, led by fee and profit on sale of investments, helped the bank post good numbers, it said.

Net profit jumped 62 per cent to ~247 crore during the period, against ~152 crore in Q3FY19.

The state-owned bank’s total income grew 23.4 per cent to ~6,504.46 crore, against ~5269.74 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Padmaja Chunduru, the bank’s managing director and chief executive officer, said the lender has shown improvement on all the parameters and the quarter witnessed secular growth. Despite one big account turning non-performing asset (NPA), the bank managed to report good numbers, which was in line with expectations, she said.

Gross NPA as a percentage of gross advances came down to 7.21 per cent during the quarter, from 7.48 per cent in the corresponding quarter last year. Net NPA as a percentage also came down to 3.5 per cent compared to 4.42 per cent in Q3FY19. Provisions and contingencies for Q3FY20 was ~1,672 crore mainly because of higher provisions towards NPAS as against ~994 crore for Q3FY19.

Through a letter dated November 13 last year, the lender received in-principle approval from the central government’s Alternative Mechanism to the proposed amalgamation of Allahabad Bank into it with Indian Bank as transferee bank and Allahabad Bank as the transferor.