SKS profit at Rs 16-cr on lower provisions

City-based SKS Microfinance Limited, the lone publicly-listed microlender in the country, reported a net profit of Rs 16.34 crore for the quarter ended September, on the back of a sharp decrease in provisions and write-offs and  a rise in total income. It had posted a loss of Rs 262.15 crore in the year-ago period.

Total income during the quarter grew 67 per cent to Rs 135.2 crore, compared to Rs 80.9 crore in the year-ago period.

Total expenditure decreased 79.2 per cent to Rs 64 crore from Rs 308.5 crore in the previous quarter last year  mainly because the provisions and write-offs came down to a mere Rs 3.8 crore from Rs 233.6 crore in the year-ago period.

This is its fourth consecutive quarter of profit after its turnaround in the third quarter of the last financial year. Earlier, it had taken a beating both in terms of business and recovery under the impact of the AP Microfinance Act from October 2010.

On the operations front, the company registered 48 per cent growth in loan disbursements at Rs 978 crore in the quarter, compared to Rs 690 crore in the corresponding period last year, the company said.

“We are now in a position to fully address the credit requirements of our 3.3 million members across 14 states and are also looking at leveraging our rural distribution network to meet the other non fund-based requirements of our members,” M R Rao, managing director and CEO of SKS Microfinance, said in a release.