Mumbai: State-run Bank of Maharashtra on Thursday posted a two-fold increase in net profit for the quarter ended December 31, 2021 at Rs 325 crore, mainly on the back of higher net interest income and improvement in asset quality.
The company had reported a PAT of Rs 154 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal.
According to the bank’s Managing Director and CEO AS Rajeev, this was its highest ever quarterly profit reported by the lender.
The lender’s net interest income (NII) grew by 16.9 per cent to Rs 1,527 crore as against Rs 1,306 crore in Q3FY21. Net interest margin (NIM) improved to 3.11 per cent from 3.06 per cent in the year-ago period.
The banks asset quality improved during the quarter, with gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) coming down to 4.73 per cent from 7.69 per cent. Net NPA reduced to 1.24 per cent from 2.59 per cent.
It’s credit-deposit ratio improved to 67 percentage from 61 percentage earlier, which led to higher profits. The bank is aiming at a credit- deposit ratio of 69-70 percentage going ahead.
The total provisions of the bank increased to Rs 838 crore from Rs 753 crore. The bank said it made a higher provision of Rs 587 crore in the quarter for bad loans as compared to Rs 386 crore made in Q3 FY 2021.The bank generated Rs 200 crore through sale of Priority Sector Lending Certificates (PSLC).
The Pune-headquartered lender is also planning to raise between Rs 500-750 crore through Qualified institutional placements (QIP) route by mid February. “We may also look at raising Rs 1,000 crore through tier 1 bonds in the first quarter of FY23,” Rajeev said.
Its provision coverage ratio improved to 93.77 per cent as against 89.55 per cent. The bank’s fresh slippages stood at Rs 577 crore in Q3 FY2022 as against Rs 11 crore, year-ago. Its Special Mention Account 2 (SMA2) book stood at Rs 1,672 crore as of December 31, 2021.
“We expect slippages of Rs 500-600 crore in SMA2 book during Q4FY22,” Rajeev said.
Speaking about its recovery and upgradation, which stood at Rs 500 crore during the quarter, he said, “In the fourth quarter, we expect recovery and upgradation of Rs 1,000 crore.”
The bank’s Covid restructuring book stood at Rs 5,600 crore. Its capital to Risk (Weighted) Assets Ratio (CRAR) improved to 14.85 per cent, of which tier I stood at 10.61 per cent.
