Axis Bank Q4 net rises 54% to Rs 4,118 cr in Mar quarter

GROSS NPAs DROP TO 2.82% FROM 3.7% A YEAR AGO; NET INTEREST MARGIN NARROWS TO 3.49%

Axis Bank on Thursday reported a 54 per cent jump in its standalone net profit to Rs 4,117.77 crore for the quarter ended March 2022.

The total income (standalone) rose to Rs 21,999.58 crore in the JanuaryMarch period of 2021-22 against Rs 19,035.12 crore in the same period of 2020-21, Axis Bank said in a regulatory filing.

For the full 2021-22, the net profit nearly doubled to Rs 13,025.48 crore from Rs 6,588.50 crore in 2020-21.

Its income increased to Rs 82,597.37 crore from Rs 75,609.83 crore.

The bank's asset quality showed improvement, as its gross non-performing assets (NPAs) fell to 2.82 per cent of the gross advances as of March 31, 2022, from 3.70 per cent at the end of March 2021.

In value terms, the gross NPAs declined to Rs 21,822.32 crore, from Rs 25,314.84 crore.

Net NPAs (bad loans) too came down to 0.73 per cent (Rs 5,512.16 crore) compared to Rs 1.05 per cent (Rs 6,993.52 crore).

Thus, the provisions for bad loans and contingencies were trimmed to Rs 987.23 crore for the reported quarter from Rs 2,167.34 crore put aside by the lender in the year-ago period.

In Q4 its core net interest income grew 17 per cent to Rs 8,819 crore, on a 15 per cent growth in advances and a marginal narrowing in the net interest margin at 3.49 per cent. On a consolidated basis, the net profit in Q4 FY22 grew by 50 per cent to Rs 4,434 crore from Rs 2,960.40 crore a year ago. The total income rose to Rs 23,000.69 crore from Rs 19,850.11 crore. Shares of Axis Bank closed at Rs 779.95 apiece on BSE, up 1.81 per cent from the previous close.