DCB Bank net profit rises 13% to Rs 78 crore in January-March quarter

The bank's asset quality worsened with the gross NPAs spiking to 4.09% of the gross advances as of March 31, 2021

Private lender DCB Bank on Saturday reported a 13 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 78 crore for the January-March quarter compared to that of Rs 69 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Total income of the bank during the January-March quarter of 2020-21 fell to Rs 971 crore from Rs 1,012 crore in the same quarter of 2019-20, DCB Bank said in a regulatory filing. The income from interest as well as from investment fell during the reported quarter from a year ago.

For the FY2020-21, the bank's net profit remained nearly flat at Rs 336 crore against Rs 338 crore in FY20. Income also was a tad down at Rs 3,917 crore in FY21 against Rs 3,928 crore in FY20.

The bank's asset quality worsened with the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) spiking to 4.09 per cent of the gross advances as of March 31, 2021, as against 2.46 per cent by the end of March last year.

In value terms, the gross NPAs stood at Rs 1,083.44 crore, significantly higher than Rs 631.51 crore in the year-ago period.

Provisions for bad loans and contingencies in Q4FY21 came down to Rs 101.18 crore from Rs 118.24 crore a year earlier. Net NPAs stood at 2.29 per cent (Rs 594.15 crore) as against 1.16 per cent (Rs 293.51 crore).

On returning the compound interest to eligible borrowers post the Supreme Court final order in March and subsequent the RBI notification, the lender said it is in the process of account by account calculation of interest relief due to the eligible customers.

In the meantime, as of March 31, 2021, the bank has created liability towards estimated interest relief of Rs 10 crore and reduced the same from the interest income.

The bank said it held contingency provision of Rs 229.11 crore against the likely impact of Covid 19 regulatory package, impact of the conclusion of the interim order (of Supreme Court on not declaring accounts as NPAs till August 31, 2020 and after) and other contingencies.

On the impact of second wave of the pandemic, it said under the current circumstances the bank during March quarter, on a prudent basis, has made a contingency provision of Rs 124 crore towards further likely impact of Covid-19 on restructured and stressed assets.

"In addition to this contingency provision of Rs 124 crore, the bank also holds floating provision amounting to Rs 108.80 crore, besides, provisions for standard assets and specific non-performing assets," it said.

Besides, the amount in overdue categories where the moratorium or deferment was extended as of March 31, 2020 was Rs 1,908.08 crore at end of March this year, it said. The provisions held on these by the end of September 2020 was Rs 68 crore and similar amount was kept as provisions adjusted against slippages (NPA and restructuring), DCB Bank said.

The lender also said that its board has not recommended any dividend for fiscal ended March 2021 in view of the situation developing around Covid-19 in the country and the related uncertainty that it creates.