Central Bank of India on Friday reported a net loss of Rs.898.04 crore for the March quarter due to higher provisions for bad loans. The loss was restricted due to a tax write-back of Rs.1,448.86 crore in the quarter.
This was the second consecutive quarter that the bank has reported a
net loss. In the third quarter, the bank had reported a loss of Rs.835.52 crore. The lender reported a profit of Rs.174.29 crore in the March 2015 quarter.
Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) surged to Rs.22,720.88 crore at the end of the March quarter from Rs.11,873.05 crore a year ago. The bank reported gross NPAs of Rs.17,563.83 in the December quarter.
Provisions and contingencies jumped to Rs.2,286.66 crore in the quarter from Rs.617.17 crore a year ago. For the December quarter the bank set aside Rs.1,499.05 crore as provisions against bad loans.
In December, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) conducted an asset
quality review across the banking sector, following which banks were
asked to recognize visibly stressed assets as non-performing assets
(NPAs).
RBI also asked banks to make adequate provisions for these stressed assets.
As a percentage of total loans, gross NPAs stood at 11.95% at the end
of the March quarter as compared with 8.95% in the previous quarter and
6.09% in the year ago quarter.