Union Bank Q4 net rises 18% helped by lower provisions

State-owned Union Bank of India on Saturday reported 18.4% growth in consolidated net prot for the March quarter to ₹3,328 crore, helped by lower provisions.

For FY24, the lender reported a consolidated net prot of ₹13,797 crore against ₹8,512 crore in the year-earlier period.

Fourth-quarter standalone net prot rose to ₹3,311 crore, from ₹2,782 crore a year earlier.

Core net interest income (NII) grew 14.4% to ₹9,437 crore on 11.7% growth in advances and widening of net interest margin (NIM) to 3.1% from 2.97% in Q4 FY23.

MD and CEO A. Manimekhalai told reporters that for FY25, the bank was aiming for credit growth of 11-13% and deposit growth to be between 9-11% compared with 9.3% in FY24.

It, however, expects a fall in NIM to 2.8-3%, she said, adding that the targets would be reviewed midway through the year.

Non-interest income declined by over 10% to ₹4,707 crore, primarily due to halving of recoveries from written oª accounts.

For FY25, the bank is targeting overall recoveries to come at ₹16,000 crore against over ₹18,000 crore in FY24.

The overall provisions declined to ₹3,222 crore from ₹4,041 crore in the year-earlier period.

The fresh slippages increased to ₹3,202 crore from ₹2,687 crore a year earlier, but the nal stock of gross NPAs was lower because of help coming in on recoveries, upgradation and write-oªs.