Kotak's asset quality slides

Mumbai: Private lender Kotak Mahindra Bank on Monday posted a mixed set of numbers for the third quarter ended December  31, 2019 with moderation in advance growth and a marginal dip in asset quality.

The bank’s standalone net profit for Q3FY20 increased to Rs 1,596 crore from 1,291 crore in Q3FY19, up 24 per cent. The consolidated net profit increased 27 per cent to Rs 2,349 crore from Rs 1,844 crore, year-on-year, with non-banking business contributing 32 per cent to the consolidated net profit.

In contrast, public sector lender Bank of Maharashtra (BoM) reported a net profit of Rs 131.90 crore for the third quarter as against net loss of Rs 3,755.89 crore for the corresponding quarter of last year. BoM’s total income rose by 12.74 per cent to Rs 3,455.25 crore from Rs 3,064.83 crore year-on-year.

Another private lendfer Federal Bank reported a good set of numbers with net profit rising 32.1 per cent to Rs 440.64 crore for December quarter 2019-20 compared to a net profit of Rs 333.63 crore in the year-ago period. Its gross non-performing assets (NPAs) declined to 2.99 per cent of total advances from 3.14 per cent a year ago. Its net NPAs also fell to 1.63 per cent from 1.72 per cent. Its Provision Coverage Ratio, including technical write-offs, improved from 64.2 per cent to 66.38 per cent. Also, 98 per cent of the slippages from the corporate business came from the already identified watch-listed cases. Federal Bank’s total income also improved to Rs 3,738.22 crore from Rs 3,299.96 crore year-on-year.

"During this quarter, employee cost includes non-recurring charge towards pension obligation of nearly Rs 200 crore mainly due to change in annuity rate, dearness allowance etc," Kotak Bank said in a statement.

Kotak Bank’s net interest income, came in at Rs 3430 crore, up 16.7 per cent year-on-year on the back of improvement of 300 basis points in margins at 4.69 per cent. Kotak Bank’s margin is one of the highest among Indian banks.