OBC Jan-Mar profit up 16% at Rs 308 cr

State-run Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) today reported a 16.24% rise in its net profit at Rs 307.94 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2013, mainly driven by increase in non-interest income.

For the full fiscal 2012-13, bank's net profit rose by 16.33% to Rs 1,327.95 crore.

"Major highlight for improvement in this performance is recovery under the technical written off accounts which has improved substantially. And we have recovered more than Rs 550 crore from technical written off accounts," Chairman and Managing Director S L Bansal said. Last year, the recovery under the same head was only Rs 125 crore.

However, the non-performing assets (NPAs) of the bank rose to 2.27% in 2012-13 from 2.21% a year ago while gross NPA rose to 3.21% from 3.17%.

"Gross NPA has moved up by 4 basis point from 3.17% to 3.21% primarily because one large industrial advance has slipped to NPA category amounting to Rs 465 crore," Bansal said.

The recovery under the technical written off accounts that contributed to the bottom line led to improvement in the net interest margin, OBC Executive Director V Kannan said.

"...The main driver has been the recovery in the technical written off accounts which has contributed to the bottom line. Accordingly net interest margin for the entire year stands at 2.80% which is one basis point improvement over the last year when it was 2.79%," Kannan said.

The total income of the bank during January-March quarter of 2012-13 increased by 9.45% to Rs 4,996 crore, while for the full fiscal it rose by 13.51% to Rs 19,359 crore.

The non-interest income of the bank during the fourth quarter increased by 34.32% to Rs 462 crore and by 33.42% to Rs 1,655 crore in the full year.

Net interest income in the fourth quarter rose by 13.63% to Rs 1,214 crore and by 11.51% to Rs 4,701 crore during the year.