Public sector lender Vijaya Bank on Saturday reported 57.54% rise in net profit at Rs 254.69 crore in the first quarter of this financial year, compared with Rs 161.66 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.
Net interest income (NII), or the difference between the interest earned on loans and the interest paid on deposits, grew at 20.59% to Rs 943.8 crore, compared with Rs 782.64 crore in the same quarter last year.
Vijaya Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kishore Kumar Sansi attributed the net profit growth to the bank’s focus towards retail banking category.
Its operating profit increased by 64.05% to Rs 752.55 crore, compared with Rs 458.73 crore in the corresponding April-June quarter last year. The provision coverage ratio of the bank as on June end stood at 56.01%.
The public sector lender’s gross NPA ratio stood at 7.30% in the first quarter compared with 7.31% in the corresponding quarter, and net NPA ratio decreased to 5.24% at Rs 4,784.26 crore compared with the corresponding quarter of 5.42% at Rs 4,792.55 crore last year.
“We are able to contain NPAs and ours is below average compared with other public sector lenders. Our net slippages in the first quarter stood at Rs 430 crore, with one large account giving us a setback,” Sansi said, adding, “We are setting up recovery teams”.
The bank has created a ‘War Room’ at its headquarters in Bengaluru, manned by 20 people, who are contacting NPA customers on a daily basis.
Sansi said as per the Reserve Bank of India’s directives on insolvency process, the bank is required to provide an estimated amount of Rs 132 crore in respect of NPA accounts covered under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) effective from July 1, 2017.
“We have earmarked Rs 40 crore during the quarter towards the aforesaid amount,” he said. The bank also said its branch network reached 2,031 against 1,868 as on June 2016, and number of ATMs increased to 2,044 from 1,680 as on June 2016.
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