Allahabad Bank posts net loss of Rs 18.2 billion for September quarter

The bank has assessed a capital requirement of about Rs 18 bn to maintain capital adequacy according to Basel-III norms

Allahabad Bank posted a net loss of Rs 18.22 billion for the quarter ended September, against a net profit of Rs 702 million in the year-ago period. The bank expects to come out of Prompt Corrective Action (PCA) by June 2019, said S S Mallikarjuna Rao, managing director and chief executive officer.

The bank has assessed a capital requirement of about Rs 18 billion to maintain capital adequacy according to Basel-III norms. It expects to raise this through options such as QIP, LIC subscription and government capital infusion, said Rao.

The bank’s provisions shot up to Rs 23.56 billion in the quarter, against Rs 14.97 billion in the year-ago period.

“In agriculture, slippages are about Rs 8 billion. In the MSME sector, the forbearance of 180 days came to an end, and due to lack of cash flows, the accounts become NPAs. In UP and Maharashtra, recovery is pending in cases where the waiver has not reached,” he said.

The bank expects NPAs of about Rs 8-10 billion from large corporates in the coming quarters, according to Rao.

“We are confident of maintaining gross NPAs below 16 per cent and net NPAs below 6 per cent by March 2019. Accretion of NPA, with respect to big corporate, has peaked. There is only a small segment of Rs 8-10 billion, which might get NPAs in the next two quarters,” said Rao.

The gross NPA as a percentage of total lending stood at 17.53 per cent, as against 14.10 per cent in the year-ago period. “We recently received Rs 30.54 billion through capital infusion. This was to ensure the bank meets its Basel-III requirements,” he said.