Syndicate Bank Q1 Result, profit down 74% at Rs79 crore

State-owned Syndicate Bank on Thursday said net profit in the June quarter fell 74% from a year ago, as it set aside more money against soured loans.

Provisions rose to Rs.673.5 crore, up 40% from a year ago, while net profit fell to Rs.79 crore from Rs.302 crore in the same period.

The first quarter numbers, however, were an improvement from the Rs.2,158 crore loss that the bank reported in the January-March period. While announcing the loss last quarter, the bank had blamed an exceptional item worth Rs.882.64 crore, over and above the total provisions worth Rs.2,411.83 during the quarter. The exceptional item was due to a fraud that the bank reported during the March quarter.

The bank’s gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio during the first quarter rose to 7.53%, as compared with 6.7% in the January-March period. As an absolute number, gross NPAs in the period were Rs.15,434.26 crore, up 11.6% from the fourth quarter of the last financial year.

Net NPA ratio during the first quarter rose 56 basis points (bps) on a quarter-on-quarter basis to 5.04%.

Net interest income (NII), or the difference between the interest earned on loans and that paid on deposits, rose 4.74% year-on-year to Rs.1,412 crore. The bank’s non-interest income rose to Rs.554.5 crore, up 10.7% from Rs.500.77 crore a year ago.

Syndicate Bank’s net interest margin during the quarter remained at 2.22%, as compared with 2.21% last year.

Total advances as on 30 June stood at Rs.2.05 lakh crore, almost unchanged from Rs.2.02 lakh crore a year ago. Total deposits fell 2% year-on-year to Rs.2.64 lakh crore.