Dena Bank Q4 net loss widens to Rs 12.25 bn as bad assets soar 22%

State-owned Dena Bank on Friday reported widening of its net loss to Rs 12.25 billion in the March quarter on mounting bad loans and higher provisioning to cover them.

The net loss was Rs 5.75 billion in the January-March quarter of 2016-17. Sequentially, the loss widened from Rs 3.80 billion in December of 2017-18.

The bank reported loss on annual basis as well, the third year in a row due to ballooning non- performing assets (NPAs).

For the entire fiscal, 2017-18, the bank has posted a net loss of Rs 19.23 billion.

In 2016-17, it had reported a net loss of Rs 8.63 billion; in 2015-16, it Rs 9.35 billion. It had clocked a net profit of Rs 2.65 billion in 2014-15.

Dena Bank's total income in the fourth quarter of last fiscal also came down to Rs 23.90 billion from Rs 26.12 billion in the year-ago period. Its interest income was down at Rs 20.67 billion, as against Rs 22.97 billion.

Income for the full fiscal also fell to Rs 100.95 billion, as against Rs 114.33 billion in 2016-17, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

The interest income of the bank also fell during the year to Rs 89.32 billion, from Rs 101.81 billion a year ago.

The public sector lender said that its board of directors has not recommended any dividend for 2017-18.

Bank's asset quality has worsened with the gross NPAs hitting a high of 22.4 per cent of the gross advances as on March 31, 2018, from 16.27 per cent as of end-March 2017.

In value terms, the gross NPAs or bad loans rose to Rs 163.61 billion from Rs 126.18 billion.

Net NPAs were also up at 11.95 per cent (Rs 78.38 billion) from 10.66 per cent (Rs 77.35 billion).

Thus, the bank parked aside Rs 21.50 billion as provisioning for bad loans for the March quarter, as against Rs 8.78 billion in the year-ago period.

For entire fiscal, the provisioning for bad assets rose to Rs 42.81 billion, as against Rs 24.57 billion.

Provision coverage ratio stood at 60.20 per cent as on March 31, 2018.

Dena Bank stock closed 0.54 per cent down at Rs 18.45 on BSE.