Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) is back into black, reporting a standalone net profit of ₹148 crore for the second quarter on lower provisioning and high cash recovery.
The PSU lender had posted ₹2,254 crore in net loss in the year-earlier period.
“This is the third consecutive quarter we have made profit after incurring losses for 18 quarters,” said Partha Pratim Sengupta, MD & CEO.
“Currently, we have accumulated losses worth ₹17,000 crore. Our focus now is to make more profit and have a healthy balance sheet by March 2021.”
Mr. Sengupta said IOB had exceeded all key parameters required to come out of RBI’s Prompt Corrective Action framework. But, it was not in a hurry to approach the central bank as it wanted to see the assess the impact of COVID-19 till March 2021.
“The bank is on the right track. We are adopting a cautious approach and slowed down our credit growth. We might end the year with 5% growth over FY20. Though, we have enabling resolutions to raise capital, we are not going to do so till March 2021. Our idea is to present a healthy balance sheet,” he said.
Total income increased to ₹5,431 crore (₹5,024 crore). lnterest income rose to ₹4,363 crore (₹4,276 crore) and non-interest income to ₹1,068 crore (₹748 crore). Net interest margin roseincreased to 2.27% from 1.86%.
Provisions and contingencies contracted by ₹1,803 crore to ₹1,193 crore. Provision coverage ratio improved to 89.36% (75.85%).
Gross NPAs declined to 13.04% (₹17,660 crore) from 20% (₹28,674 crore). Net NPAs reduced to 4.30% (₹5,291 crore) from 9.85% (₹12,508 crore).
“We have made a marked improvement, despite not writing off any huge amount this quarter,” he said. “Only ₹35 crore was written off this quarter. We had set a tough cash-recovery target of ₹1,000 crore and achieved ₹750 crore. That has made our balance sheet very healthy. We might have a slippage of ₹238 crore on loans given prior to COVID-19,” he said.
Total deposits grew to ₹2,29,607 crore (₹2,22,258 crore), while there was a dip in gross advances by ₹7,881 crore to ₹1,35,469 crore. The bank had a capital adequacy ratio of 10.90%.
Mr. Sengupta said going forward, the bank aims to grow the retail, agriculture and MSME (RAM) sector to 80% from 75% and limit corporate exposure to 20%.
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