Axis Bank shares down nearly 3 pc as Q4 profit slips

New Delhi: Shares of Axis Bank today fell nearly 3 per cent after the company reported 43 per cent decline in net profit for the fourth quarter of last fiscal ended March 31.

Even after a positive start, shares of the company failed to hold on to the momentum and later went down by 2.64 per cent to Rs 503.60 on BSE. At NSE, shares of the company dipped 2.68 per cent to Rs 503.25.

Axis Bank yesterday reported a 43 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 1,225.10 crore for the fourth quarter of 2016-17 on sharp rise in provisioning for bad loans.

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.