Axis Bank Q4 profit slips 43% to Rs 1,225 crore

Axis Bank today reported 43 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 1,225.10 crore for the fourth quarter of last fiscal ended March 31 on higher provisioning for bad loans, which rose sharply.

The country's third largest private sector lender had posted a net profit of Rs 2,154.28 crore for the January-March quarter of the previous fiscal, 2015-16.

Its total income increased however to Rs 14,181.31 crore in the fourth quarter of 2016-17 as against Rs 13,592.97 crore in the year-ago period.

The bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans rose significantly to 5.04 per cent of the gross advances as of March this year, as against 1.67 per cent a year earlier.

Net NPAs were 2.11 per cent of the net advances during the quarter, as against 0.70 per cent.

Consequently, provisioning more than doubled to Rs 2,581.25 crore for bad loans and contingencies from Rs 1,168.33 crore in the same quarter a year ago.

As on March 2017, the bank's provision coverage, as a proportion of gross NPAs including prudential write-offs, improved to 65 per cent, from 64 per cent as on December 31, 2016.

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During the quarter, additions to gross NPA were Rs 4,811 crore, recoveries and upgrades were Rs 2,804 crore while write-offs during the quarter were Rs 1,194 crore, Axis Bank said in a statement.

The board recommended 250 per cent or 5 dividend on the face value of Rs 2 each for the financial year 2016-17.

For the entire 2016-17, the bank's net profit declined by 55 per cent to Rs 3,679.28 crore, compared to Rs 8,223.66 crore in 2015-16.

Total income increased to Rs 56,233.47 crore during the year, compared to Rs 50,359.50 crore in the earlier fiscal.

Axis Bank stock closed at Rs 517.30, up 0.42 per cent, on BSE.

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