Axis Bank Q3 net plunges 73 pc to Rs 580 crore

Mumbai: Private lender Axis Bank today reported a whopping 73 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 580 crore for the October-December quarter on account of rise in bad loans.

Net profit for the same quarter in the last fiscal stood at Rs 2,175 crore. However, total income of the bank rose to Rs 14,501 crore, from Rs 12,531 crore in the year-ago period. Other income (comprising fee, trading profit and

miscellaneous income) rose to Rs 3,400 crore as against Rs 2,338 crore during the same period last year. Axis Bank's portfolio quality deteriorated, with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rising to 5.22 per cent of gross advances as against 1.68 per cent in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

Its net non-performing assets also jumped to 2.18 per cent, from the earlier 0.75 per cent. For the first nine months of 2016-17, the bank's net profit also declined by 60 per cent to Rs 2,454 crore as against Rs 6,069 crore a year earlier.