Indian Overseas Bank Q4 profit plunges 87%

Public sector lender Indian Overseas Bank has registered a sharp decline of 86.7 per cent in its March quarter net profit at Rs 35.50 crore, from Rs 268.33 crore a year earlier.

However, the Chennai-based bank ran up a net loss for the financial year to end-March at Rs 454.33 crore as against a net profit of Rs 601.74 crore in the year-ago period.

On a sequential basis, the bank , in a filing to BSE , said it turned around in the fourth quarter of 2014-15, registering a net profit of Rs 35.50 crore against a net loss of Rs 516.03 crore in the preceding quarter.

"Strategic initiatives taken in the fourth quarter towards reduction in the cost of deposits, improved recovery performance and stringent measures on cost control contributed to net profit of Rs 35.50 crore," it said.

Total income for the January-March quarter grew to Rs 6,704.03 crore from Rs 6,475.93 crore in the same period last year.

For the entire fiscal, total income rose to Rs 26,076.93 crore from Rs 24,853.07 crore a year ago.

In 2014-15, IOB said, it had raised capital funds by way of issuance of Basel III Compliant Additional Tier I perpetual bonds to the tune of Rs 1,000 crore.

Gross NPAs as of March 31 stood at Rs 14,922.45 crore, with gross NPA ratio at 8.33 per cent and net NPA at 5.68 per cent.

The bank was trading at Rs 40.25, down 2.31 per cent over its previous close on BSE.