Bandhan Bank Q4 Net Dips On Higher Provisioning, Write-Offs

Bandhan Bank on Friday reported a decline in net profit to Rs 55 crore in the quarter ended March as against Rs 808 crore in the corresponding period a year ago. The fall in the bottomline was due to higher provisioning during the January-March quarter at Rs 1,774 crore compared with Rs 735 crore in the year-earlier period, MD and CEO of Bandhan Bank, Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, said.

Ghosh said the bank had written-off Rs 3,852 crore in the fourth quarter, while fresh slippages stood at Rs 1,017 crore.

'A major portion of the slippages were from micro-finance advances. Recovery and upgradation during the fourth quarter of the last fiscal stood at Rs 516 crore,” he said.

The Kolkata-based lender’s operating profit was Rs 1,838 crore in the reporting quarter, marginally lower from Rs 1,796 crore in the corresponding period a year ago.

Ghosh, who is retiring as MD and CEO from July, said going forward, 'we expect the growth momentum to continue and also build a strong retail franchise'.

He said after retirement, he will play a strategic role in the holding company, Bandhan Financial Holdings.

Executive search firm Egon Zehnder has been appointed to find a suitable successor to Ghosh.

Bandhan Bank’s deposits at the end of the fourth quarter stood at Rs 1.35 lakh crore, while gross advances grew 14.5% to Rs 1.25 lakh crore.

The lender also reported an improvement in asset quality in January-March. The gross non-performing assets came in lower at 3.8% in the quarter to March as against 4.9% a year ago, while net NPA stood at 1.1%.

Net interest margin was at 7.6% in the reporting quarter.

CASA deposits of the bank stood at Rs 50,151 crore, while the CASA ratio was 37.1%.

The collection efficiency ratio for micro-credit was 99% in the fourth quarter, and capital adequacy ratio stood at 18.3%.