New Delhi: Private sector lender Axis Bank on July 25 reported 16.06 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 1,306 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, as the bad loans almost doubled during the period.
The bank had registered a net profit of Rs 1,556 crore in the June quarter of 2016-17. Revenues of the bank, however, rose to Rs 14,052.30 crore during April-June quarter of the current fiscal, compared to Rs 13,852.18 crore in the year-ago period, Axis Bank said in a regulatory filing.
The lenders asset quality worsened as gross non- performing assets (NPAs) almost doubled to 5.03 per cent as on June 30 this year, from 2.54 per cent on June 30, 2016. Likewise, net NPAs or bad loans increased to 2.30 per cent of net advances furnished by June-end from 1.08 per cent a year earlier.
In absolute terms, gross NPAs stood at Rs 22,030.87 crore as on June 30, 2017 compared to Rs 9,553.17 crore a year earlier. Net NPAs were at Rs 9,765.98 crore, up from Rs 4,010.23 crore a year earlier.
"During the quarter, additions to gross NPAs were Rs 3,519 crore, recoveries and upgrades were Rs 306 crore, while write-offs during the quarter were Rs 2,462 crore," the bank said in a statement.
However, there was not very significant uptick in bank's provisioning for bad loans and contingencies, which stood at Rs 2,341.93 crore for the quarter, as against Rs 2,117.17 crore in the same period last fiscal.
Axis Bank said, during the quarter it has put in place a policy for making provisions for standard assets at rates higher than regulatory minimum, based on evaluation of risk and stress in certain sectors as per RBI norms.
"Accordingly, the bank has made enhanced standard asset provisioning at 1 per cent on four sectors -- power, iron and steel, infrastructure construction and telecommunications services," it added.
The third-largest private sector lender said it has made Rs 184 crore additional provision for these sectors during the June quarter. Shares of the bank on July 25 closed 1.94 per cent down at Rs 544.65 on BSE.
