South Indian Bank posts net profit of Rs 223 crore in second quarter

Murali Ramakrishnan, MD and CEO of the Bank, while announcing the results, stated that the strategy of realigning the business by the bank had contributed to the above improved performance

Kerala-based South Indian Bank (SIB) has posted a net profit of Rs 223 crore during the second quarter of the current financial year, as against a net loss of Rs 187 crore during the July to September quarter of 2021-22.

The bank’s total income for the quarter under review increased by 11 per cent to Rs 1,995 crore as compared to Rs 1,804 crore during the same period last year.  Murali Ramakrishnan, managing director and chief executive officer of the Bank, while announcing the results, stated that the strategy of realigning the business by the bank had contributed to the above improved performance.

“During this period, Bank could register growth in the desired segments of liabilities like CASA and retail deposits and focus on building quality asset portfolio across all verticals like corporate, SME, auto loan, credit card, personal loan, gold loan,” he added. The bank’s CASA was up by 14 per cent during the period under review. SIB’s gross non-performing assets for the quarter decreased to 5.67 per cent of gross advances as compared to 6.65 per cent during the Q2 of 2021-22. The bank’s net NPA also declined to 2.51 per cent as against 3.85 per cent during the same quarter last year.

He also stated that, in line with the strategic intent of the bank viz, “Profitability through quality credit growth”, the Bank could churn around 50 per cent of its advances portfolio since October 2020 amounting to Rs. 33,768 crore with a NIM of 3.6 per cent and GNPA of only 0.03 per cent. This coupled with a robust recovery or collection mechanism, had helped the Bank to reduce the fresh slippages by 34.09 per cent on Y-o-Y basis from Rs 531.31 Crore to Rs 350.17 Crore, he added.   Provisions for bad loans and contingencies declined to Rs 179 crore during the quarter as against Rs 420 crore reserved for the year-ago period.