Bandhan Bank Q2 net profit falls 5% to Rs 920 crore; NII rises 26%

Private sector lender Bandhan Bank on Monday reported a 5.3 fall in net profit for the September quarter (Q2FY21) at Rs 920 crore due to additional provisions made for Covid-related uncertainties, even as it saw a robust 26 per cent growth in net interest income (NII). It had earned a net profit of Rs 971.8 crore in the corresponding period last financial year.

Sequentially, though, net profit was up more than 67 per cent. Also, the bank earned its highest pre-tax profit at Rs 1,233 crore in the reporting quarter, up 6.2 per cent.

NII was up almost 26 per cent to Rs 1,923 crore against Rs 1,539 crore in the corresponding period last financial year. Non-interest income, however, rose only 6 per cent to Rs 381.8 crore. Net interest margin (annualised) stood at 8 per cent against 8.2 per cent last year.

Shares of the bank closed 4 per cent higher at Rs 300.85 on the BSE. The lender has set aside Rs 300 crore as additional provisions for standard assets this quarter. This takes the banks’ total additional provision to Rs 2,096 crore, which includes the additional standard asset provision for its micro-banking portfolio. “These provisions are higher than the minimum requirement by the RBI,” the bank said in its exchange notification. In the previous quarter (Q1FY21), the bank had made provisions of Rs 849 crore which included additional provision of Rs 750 crore for Covid-19.

Asset quality of the lender has improved both sequentially and year-on-year. Gross NPAs stood at 1.2 per cent in Q2FY21, compared to 1.4 per cent in the previous quarter and 1.8 per cent in the corresponding quarter last financial year. Similarly, net NPAs was down to 0.4 per cent.

If not for the Supreme Court’s interim order on a standstill in classifying accounts as NPA, the bank’s gross NPAs would have been 1.5 per cent.

“As the moratorium ended, coupled with a robust rural performance, we have seen an all-round improvement in collection, disbursement and deposits. On the deposits front, we have witnessed the best-ever quarter whereas on disbursement front, we are close to pre-Covid level,” said Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, MD & CEO, Bandhan Bank.