Bank of Maharashtra net profit jumps to Rs 135 cr in Dec qtr; NII up 36%

State-run Bank of Maharashtra on Monday reported a net profit of Rs 135 crore in the quarter ended December against a net loss of Rs 3,764 crore in the year-ago period.

On quarter-on-quarter basis, the lender had reported a net profit of Rs 115 crore.

"Net profit increased to Rs 135 crore in the quarter supported by an increase in net interest income, robust recovery and control on expenses," the bank said in a statement.

Net interest income (NII) rose 36 per cent to Rs 1,186 crore.

Net interest margins (NIM) stood at 2.86 per cent compared to 2.41 per cent in the year-ago period.

For the nine months ended December 2019, its profit after tax stood at Rs 331 crore as against a net loss of Rs 4,856 crore in the same period last year.

The Gross NPA improved to 16.77 per cent, or Rs 15,746 crore from 17.31 per cent, or Rs 15,509 crore.

Net NPAs (non-performing assets) stood at 5.46 per cent or Rs 4,507 crore as against 5.91 per cent or Rs 4,647 crore.

During the quarter, it classified Rs 72,019 crore of loans as fraud and holds a 100 per cent provisioning on these accounts.

The bank said it sees a very bleak chances of recovery from a few accounts and have adequately made provision.

In the April-December period, it made 100 per cent provision for 25 such accounts and 50 per cent provision for three accounts.

Total provision for these accounts as of December 31, 2019 stood at Rs 2,403.37 crore. It restructured 3,445 MSME accounts worth Rs 24,747 lakh in the second quarter as per the January 1 circular of the RBI.

Capital adequacy ratio increased to 11.21 per cent against 11.049 per cent and tier 1 ratio stood at 9.44 per cent as of December-end.

Total business grew by 4.55 per cent to Rs 2,35,867 crore.

Deposits was up by 4.4 per cent to Rs 1,41,986 crore while credit stood at Rs 93,882 crore as on December 31, 2019.