Private sector lender Yes Bank on Saturday reported a 45% year-on-year fall in its net profit for the quarter ended March at Rs 202 crore, as the lender created accelerated provisions for loans and security receipts (SR).

The bottomline was lower than Bloomberg estimate of Rs 258 crore but on a sequential basis, it was up over three-folds from Rs 52 crore in Q3FY23.

Yes Bank’s total advances grew 12% on-year to Rs 2.03 trillion as on March 31. Retail loans accounted for 45% of the bank’s total advances, corporate loans formed 27% and mid-corporates and small and medium enterprises (SME) loans accounted for 14% each.

Also read: ChatGPT and Cybersecurity: What does it offer for future of small businesses

“In current year, our credit growth has been 13.2% and mainly because large corporate was coming down. If you see from last quarter, large corporate is almost flattish…I think we would be seeing a credit growth of more than 15%, between 15-20% overall in FY24,” Prashant Kumar, managing director and chief executive officer (MD & CEO) at Yes Bank said in a post-earnings conference.

On liabilities side, the bank’s total deposits rose 10% year-on-year to Rs 2.17 trillion as on March end.

The bank’s low-cost current account and savings account ratio (CASA) stood at 30.8% as on March end, higher than 29.9% a quarter ago but lower than 31.1% a year ago.

Overall, during FY23, the bank opened 1.34 million CASA accounts as against 1.14 million accounts in FY22.

On account of robust advances growth, the bank’s net interest income (NII) — difference between interest earned and expended — rose 16% year-on-year to Rs 2,105 crore during Q4FY23. Net interest margin (NIM), meanwhile, stood at 2.8% during January-March, higher than 2.5% a year ago.

During the reporting quarter, Yes Bank’s asset quality improved with gross non-performing asset ratio (GNPA) falling to 2.2% as on March 31 from 13.9% a year ago.

On a sequential basis, though, the bank’s GNPA ratio was up 20 basis points.

Net NPAs, meanwhile, moderated to 0.8% as on March 31 from 4.5% a year ago and 1% a quarter ago.

Fresh slippages during the reporting quarter stood at Rs 1,196 crore as against Rs 1,610 crore a quarter ago.

Total provisions rose 128% year-on-year to Rs 618 crore during the reporting quarter, taking the bank’s provision coverage ratio to 62.3% as against 49.4% last quarter.

“If you see the higher provisioning, it is mainly on our loans and security receipt (SR). We don’t feel the need to make any provision on the AT-1 bonds…If you see our PCR has gone up significantly from around 47% to 62%, and our net NPA and the security receipt combined together has come down from 4.8% in last year to 2.4% so there has been a significant improvement in the asset quality,” Kumar said.

Also read: Diversified expansion empowers individuals, companies and nation

Further, the banks’ total recoveries and upgrades for FY23 stood at Rs 6,120 crore, higher than its guidance of Rs 5,000 crore earlier last year. The bank will target Rs 5,000 crore in recoveries in the current fiscal year again, the MD said.

Yes Bank’s capital adequacy ratio stood at 17.9% as on March end, of which common equity-tier I ratio stood at 13.3%. The bank will not look raise to capital this fiscal, the MD said.

Lastly, when asked whether investors, including State Bank of India (SBI) are looking to offload stake in the bank post end of lock-in period in March, Kumar said he was not aware of any such plans.