Syndicate Bank piles up huge loss on back of bad loans

Public sector Syndicate Bank on Tuesday reported a net loss of Rs 2,158.17 for the quarter ending March 2016 due to a more than three-fold increase in provisions for bad loans and contingencies. The bank had reported a net profit of Rs 416.92 crore during the same quarter of 2014-15.

In October-December 2015-16, the bank had posted a loss of Rs 119.67 crore. Syndicate Bank raised provisioning towards bad loans and contingencies to Rs 2,411.83 crore in the last quarter of 2015-16 as against Rs 715.30 crore in the year ago period, the bank said in a regulatory filing. The income of the bank also fell during the quarter to Rs 6,524.65 crore, from Rs 6,599.13 crore a year earlier.

The asset quality deteriorated further as gross nonperforming assets rose to 6.7 per cent of gross advances during the quarter, from 3.13 per cent in the year-ago period.

In absolute terms, gross NPAs were Rs 13,832.16 crore in the quarter against Rs 6,442.38 crore last year. Similarly, net NPAs or bad loans as a percentage of net advances stood at 4.48 per cent (Rs 9,014.87 crore) during the last quarter of 2015-16, from 1.9 per cent (Rs 3,843.65 crore) year ago. The bank reported a net loss of Rs 1,643.49 crore for the full fiscal 2015-16. It had earned a net profit of Rs 1,522.93 crore in 2014-15.

However, the total income of the bank increased to Rs 25,706.51 crore in 2015-16, from Rs 23,724.75 crore in 2014-15. In a separate filing, Syndicate Bank said the Board of Directors at its meeting held on Tuesday has not recommended payment of any dividend for 2015-16.

Other public sector banks that have reported huge losses during the fourth quarter due to the spike in bad loans include Bank of Baroda, UCO Bank, Central Bank of India and Allahabad Bank.