Federal Bank Q2 net up 5% to Rs 226 cr; stock jumps 10%

Kerala-based private sector lender Federal Bank today reported a modest 5% rise in its net profit at Rs 225.81 crore in the September quarter on a rise in core income and advances.

Net profit was at Rs 215.10 crore during the same period of previous fiscal.

Total income rose 11.58% to Rs 1,857.84 crore against Rs 1,665 crore reported in same period last fiscal.

Net interest income or core income grew 8.39% to Rs 548.35 crore during the period.

Meanwhile, the bank showed improvement in the asset quality front with gross NPA ratio improving to 3.39% from 3.83%.

However, net NPAs increased to 0.98% from 0.68 reported during the same period a year earlier.

As per the bank, fresh slippages during last quarter stood at Rs 151 crore with a restructuring of Rs 214 crore.

"We have no more pipeline of restructuring as of now," Managing Director and Chief Executive Shyam Srinivasan told reporters in a conference call from Kochi today.

Net interest margin stood at 3.30%. "We hope to maintain NIM at the current level in the future," Srinivasan said.

On the deposit front, the bank said it has increased 14.69% to Rs 56,793.74 crore by the end of the September quarter with sound uptick in NRI deposits. The cheap cost deposit base or CASA improved to 30.72% by the end of September quarter.

Similarly, advances grew by 16.31% to Rs 42,220 crore with sound growth in retail and SME credit.

Srinivasan also said the private sector lender has already raised around $70 million through the forex swap window opened by RBI last month and is likely to raise another $30-40 million by November end.

Federal Bank has a capital adequacy ratio of 15.35% with a tier-I capital of 14.64% for the period ending September.

Despite tepid numbers, the market lapped up the stock by 10% to Rs 78.40 on the BSE, which closed flat with a positive bias.