Bank of Baroda (BoB) reported a profit of ₹507 crore for the January-March quarter on the back of healthy trading gains compared with the ₹991 crore loss in the year-earlier period.
The numbers are not exactly comparable as the lender merged with Vijaya Bank and Dena Bank in April 2019. Trading profit in the fourth quarter of FY20 was ₹875 crore (₹502 crore). Fresh slippages for the quarter stood at ₹3,050 crore. Bad loan provisions stood at ₹3,190 crore (₹5,550 crore).
Asset quality improved sequentially with gross NPAs declining to ₹69,381 crore as on March 31, 2020 (9.4% of gross advances) compared with the ₹73,140 crore (10.43%) as on December 31, 2019. Net NPA ratio was 3.13% as on March 31, 2020, down from the 4.05% as on December 31, 2019.
Provision coverage ratio improved significantly to 81.33% compared with 77.77% as on December 31, 2019. While the overall deposit growth was 1.8%, the growth is current and savings account (CASA) deposits was 6.75%. The ratio of CASA deposit to total deposit was at 39.07% at end March as compared to 37.26% year ago.
“The amalgamation was designed to ensure that the complementarity with the three banks are fully leveraged,” said Sanjiv Chadha, MD & CEO, BoB.
“The improvement in the CASA ratio is one of the biggest benefits which has come. Vijaya Bank was largely funded by wholesale deposits with CASA at 25%. For BoB, it was 39%. When we began the year for the combined entity, it was 37%. We have been able to improve it by 180 bps,” he said.
