Andhra Bank Q3 net down 82% at Rs 45 cr

Public sector lender Andhra Bank reported a 82.27- per cent decline in net profit at Rs 45.57 crore for the quarter ended December 2013, as expenditure rose steeply on all counts, including slippages, while growth in total income was way behind in relation to rise in expenditure. The bank had reported a net profit of Rs 257 crore in the corresponding quarter previous year.

Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 3,900 crore, an increase of 12.49 per cent over Rs 3,467 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Interest on advances grew 6.7 per cent, helped by increase in retail banking at Rs 1,050 crore as compared with Rs 627.32 crore in the year-ago period.

Total expenditure grew 22.44 per cent to Rs 3,373.97 crore, as compared with Rs 2,755 crore while provisions and contingencies increased 50 per cent to Rs 428 crore from Rs 285 crore in the corresponding previous quarter. Of this, provisioning towards bad loans rose 123 per cent to Rs 334 crore.

The bank’s total business in the quarter grew 15.6 per cent, with 17.1 per cent increase in deposits and 13.7 per cent increase in advances.

Gross NPA ratio rose to 5.55 per cent  from 3.66 per cent, while the net NPA ratio rose to 3.65 per cent from 2.29 per cent. Net interest income also fell marginally to 2.54 per cent during the quarter, from 2.79 per cent in the year-ago period.