AXIS BANK NET UP 35.51% TO ₹432.38 CRORE IN JULYSEPT

MUMBAI: Axis Bank Ltd on Tuesday reported a 35.51% jump in its September quarter net profit after it made fewer provisions for bad loans. The bank reported a profit of ₹432.38 crore compared with ₹319.08 crore a year ago. The bank had been expected to post a net profit of ₹1,318.30 crore, based on a poll of 20 analysts by Bloomberg.

Provisions and contingencies fell 13.31% to ₹3,140.41 crore from ₹3,622.74 crore a year ago. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, they rose 34.09% from ₹2,341.93 crore.

Net interest income (NII) or the core income a bank earns by giving loans rose marginally by 0.57% to ₹4,539.62 crore compared with ₹4,513.87 crore last year. Non-interest income increased marginally by 1.81% to ₹2,585.54 crore from ₹2,539.66 crore in the year-ago period.

Asset quality of the bank worsened during the quarter. As a percentage of total loans, gross non-performing assets (NPA) rose to 5.9% from 5.03% in the previous quarter and 4.17% in the year-ago quarter. Net NPAs rose to 3.12% in the September quarter compared to 2.3% in the previous quarter and 2.02% in the same quarter last year.

Gross NPA’s stood at ₹27,402.32 crore, up 67.31% from a year ago. Gross slippages (or new bad loans) in the quarter were at ₹8,936 crore, of which corporate loans made up ₹8,110 crore.

Advances in the quarter grew 16.14% to ₹4.10 lakh crore from a year ago. Deposits went up by 9.53% to ₹4.16 lakh crore.

Axis Bank shares closed at ₹513.20 on the BSE, down 1.44% from previous close, on a day the benchmark Sensex fell 0.08% to 32,609.16 points.