IDBI Bank Q1 loss widens to ₹2,410 cr

State-owned IDBI Bank on Tuesday reported widening of loss to ₹2,409.89 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, hurt by higher provisioning for bad loans.

The bank had posted a loss of ₹853 crore in the April-June quarter of last fiscal, 2017-18. Its total provisioning for non performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans more than doubled to ₹5,236.07 crore during the first quarter of 2018-19, from ₹2,035.96 crore in the yearago period. The provision for bad loan alone was ₹4,602.55 crore, as against ₹1,873.21 crore. Stateowned insurance behemoth LIC has expressed interest in taking up to 51% stake in the debt ridden IDBI Bank. The Union Cabinet has already given its approval to the proposal on August 1.

The total income of the bank for the quarter under review also declined to ₹6,402.50 crore, as against ₹6,730.88 crore a year ago, IDBI said in a regulatory filing.

The bank’s gross non-performing assets (NPAs) soared to ₹57,806.84 crore, or 30.78% of total advances, in the April-June quarter of 2018-19, from ₹50,173.20 crore or 24.11% in the year-ago period. Net NPA too increased to 18.76%, up from 15.8% in the yearago quarter.

The bank has made preferential allotment of equity shares for ₹7,881 crore to the Government of India against the fund infusion made on March 27, 2018. Finance minister Piyush Goyal had said the government has already made a capital infusion of about ₹16,000 crore in IDBI Bank and LIC will be getting a “strong organisation which has capacity not only to service its debts but also strengthen and grow from here onwards”.

NEW DELHI: