Vijaya Bank Q2 net profit climbs 20% to Rs 185 crore

Public sector lender Vijaya Bank on Thursday reported 20% increase in net profit at Rs 185.46 crore compared with Rs 154.55 crore in the second quarter of the last fiscal.

Net interest income (NII), or the difference between the interest earned on loans and the interest paid on deposits, grew at 21.81% to Rs 1,008.41 crore, compared with Rs 827.82 crore in the same quarter last year.

Vijaya Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer R A Sankara Narayanan said the bank's net NPAs (non-performing assets) have come down from 5.10% to 4.86% and in next quarters it will further come down.

The provision coverage ratio of the bank at the end of second quarter stood at 59.29% and Sankara Narayanan said by next year it will touch 70%. "There is an increase of 3% in our provisional coverage every quarter," he said, adding the bank's focus is on retail lending and MSME.

The bank added 100 branches, 100 ATMs and 100 digital villages taking the total strength of branches to 2,133, ATMs to 2,177 and digital villages to 105.

Vijaya Bank, which recently raised equity capital of Rs 700 crore through Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP), is not immediately looking at raising capital. "We raised Rs 700 crore recently and we don't require capital. We have enough capital and when we require, we will go to the market," Sankara Narayanan said.

The bank's shares were trading at Rs 65.05, down by 2.42% on the BSE at 2.30 pm.