Bank of India Q1 profit up 8 per cent to Rs 95 crore

New Delhi: Bank of India has reported over 8 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 95.11 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2018-19.

The bank had registered net profit of Rs 87.71 crore in the April-June period of 2017-18. The lender returned to black after registering a massive loss of Rs 3,969.27 crore in the preceding and the concluding quarter of 2017-18.

Bank of India said in a regulatory filing that overall, there was a net loss of Rs 6,043.71 crore last fiscal due to higher bad loans which required increased provisioning.

Its total income for the first quarter of 2018-19 fell however to Rs 10,842.96 crore, down 2.4 per cent, from Rs 11,106.61 crore in the year ago period mainly due to a decline in income from 'other sources' and lower interest from balances with RBI and other inter bank funds.

On asset front, the bank witnessed further deterioration with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rising to 16.66 per cent of the gross advances as on June 30, 2018 against 13.05 per cent in the same period of 2017.

It also widened against 16.58 per cent gross NPA as on March 31, 2018. Net NPAs or bad loans too rose to 8.45 per cent by end June 2018 from 6.70 per cent end-June 2018 and 8.26 per cent by March 31, 2018.

In absolute value, the gross NPAs rose to Rs 60,604.46 crore at the end of the first quarter of 2018-19 as against Rs 51,019.11 crore by the same period a year ago.

Net NPAs for the corresponding periods were Rs 27,932.25 crore against Rs 24,406.72 crore.

A rise in bad loans led to higher amount to be parked for provisioning for bad loans at Rs 2,259.66 crore during April-June of this fiscal from Rs 2,156.21 crore in the same period year ago.

Overall, the contingencies and provisions during the quarter increased to Rs 2,564.19 crore from Rs 2,245.28 crore year ago first quarter.

The lender said it changed the method of appropriation of recovery in NPAs during the quarter which resulted in increase in gross bad loans by Rs 211.30 crore.

Besides, there was an increase in interest income by Rs 211.30 crore and increase in provision for NPA by around Rs 162.07 crore.

The Provision Coverage Ratio of the bank as on June 30, 2018 is 66.67 per cent. Bank of India stock was trading 6.29 per cent down at Rs 96.90 on BSE.