Public sector lender Allahabad Bank on Thursday reported a 49.56% y-o-y fall in net profit to R164.11 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2014. The bank had reported a profit of R325.36 crore in the year-ago period. The decline came on the back of lower other income, higher provisions and higher tax expenses.
Total income during the period under review grew only 1.5% y-o-y to R5,386.79 crore as its other income registered a decline of close to 18% y-o-y to R445.66 crore.
Net interest income (NII), the difference between interest earned and interest expended, however, posted more than 20% y-o-y growth during the December quarter at R1,607.14 crore from R1,337.65 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal, according to a BSE filing.
Allahabad Bank’s operating profit witnessed a 6.4% y-o-y increase at R1,074.71 crore from R1,009.81 crore during the same period of FY14.
During the October-December period, the bank’s provisions grew 15.58% y-o-y to R643.66 crore against R556.91 crore for the corresponding period a year ago. Tax expenses also rose by a whopping 109% y-o-y to R266.94 crore.
Net Interest Margin increased to 3.27% against 2.75% for the corresponding quarter last fiscal. Asset quality was stable as its gross NPAs as percentage of gross advances stood at 5.46% at the end of December quarter against 5.47% during the year-ago period. Net NPA ratio declined 30 bps year-on-year to 3.89%.
