Central Bank of India’s net profit for the quarter ended March declined by 30% on year Rs 724 crore, mainly due to a one-time Rs 632 crore hit from deferred tax asset revaluation after a tax rate change.
“Net Profit decreased to Rs 724 crore in Q4FY26 on YoY basis as against ₹1034 crore, as bank has taken onetime impact of Rs 632 crore due to recognition of Deferred Tax Asset at 25.168% as against 34.944%,” the bank said.
NII rises 18%, provisions ease; NIM outlook above 3%
Net interest income was up 18% on year to Rs 4,002 crore in the reporting quarter. The net interest margin stood at 3.25%, up 29 basis point on quarter. For FY27, the bank expects NIMs to be above 3%. The provisions and contingencies for the reporting quarter moderated by 40% on year to Rs 504 crore. On the expected credit loss guidelines, the bank said that they have made provisions of Rs 1,592 crore by the end of December. Kalyan Kumar, managing director and CEO of Central Bank of India said that meeting the guidelines won’t be a challenge.
The total business of the bank was up 15.6% on year to Rs 8.12 lakh crore, with gross advances up 18.76% and total deposits up 15.6% on year. The credit-deposit ratio as on March 31 stood at 73.80% as against 70.53% ago.
With gross advances, the retail, agriculture and the micro, small and medium enterprise (RAM) book grew 20.86% on year to Rs 2.35 lakh crore. Going ahead, Kumar said that RAM would be the growth driver for the bank. Corporate growth was the bank was up 14.5% on year to Rs 1.1 lakh crore. The ratio of RAM to corporate is pegged at 65:35 as compared to 68:32 in the reporting quarter, the management said. The guidance for business growth for FY27 is 14-15%. Loan growth is pegged at 14-16% while deposit growth has been estimated by 10-12%.
Within deposits, the current account and savings account (CASA) deposits was up 9.75% on year to Rs 2.20 lakh crore, taking the CASA ratio to 47.30% as on March 31. The bank’s management said that the repricing of bank deposits would be completed by the end of the second quarter.
NPAs largely stable; credit cost, slippages inch up
In terms of asset quality, the gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio improved to 2.67% as on March 31, as compared to 2.70% a quarter ago. Net NPA ratio stood at 0.49% as against 0.45% a quarter ago. The Basel-III capital adequacy ratio stood at 17.91%. The slippage ratio for the reporting quarter inched up 19 basis points on quarter to 0.44%. Credit cost too increased 42 basis points on quarter to 0.79%. The liquidity coverage ratio stood at 165.67% as on March 31. On the impact of the West Asia crisis, Kumar said that the bank as of now does not see any immediate impact on their books.
On bringing the government stake down to 75%, which is currently at 89.27%, Kumar said that they might do an offer for sale or a qualified institutional placement. However, he added that the bank currently has enough capital to support the growth of the bank.
| Central Bank of India standalone financials | |||||
| Rs crore | Q4FY2026 | Q3FY2026 | Q4FY2025 | QoQ % growth | YoY % growth |
| Net interest income | 4,002 | 3,502 | 3,399 | 14.3 | 17.8 |
| Other income | 1,150 | 1,926 | 1,714 | -40.3 | -32.9 |
| Operating expenditure | 3,056 | 3,136 | 3,110 | -2.6 | -1.7 |
| Operating profit | 2,096 | 2,293 | 2,003 | -8.6 | 4.7 |
| Provisions & contingencies | 504 | 704 | 844 | -28.4 | -40.3 |
| Tax | 867 | 326 | 125 | 166.4 | 594.3 |
| Net profit | 724 | 1,263 | 1,034 | -42.6 | -29.9 |
| Gross NPAs | 9,185 | 8,726 | 9,225 | 5.3 | -0.4 |
| Net NPAs | 1,666 | 1,414 | 1,543 | 17.8 | 7.9 |
| Gross NPAs (%) | 2.67 | 2.70 | 3.18 | -0.03 | -0.51 |
| Net NPAs (%) | 0.49 | 0.45 | 0.55 | 0.04 | -0.06 |
| NIM (%) | 3.25% | 2.96% | 3.22% | ||
The bank plans to raise capital aggregating to Rs 7,000 crore through equity or debt in FY27. The bank has also proposed an interim dividend of Rs 0.60 per equity share for the Q4. This is in addition to 2% interim dividend paid in the previous 3 quarters. On Thursday, the shares of Central Bank of India closed 0.3% higher at Rs 36.41 on BSE.