Syndicate Bank posts loss in Dec quarter

Gross NPAs rose to 4.61% in December 2015 from 3.6% a year ago

Public sector lender Syndicate Bank has posted a loss of Rs 139 crore for the third quarter ended December 2015 on a sharp rise in provisioning for bad loans. It had posted a net profit of Rs 305 crore in October-December 2014.

Syndicate Bank shares closed five per cent down at Rs 70.25 a share on the BSE on Thursday.

Provisions and contingencies grew by 201 per cent to Rs 875 crore in Q3 from Rs 290.4 crore in the corresponding quarter of FY15, according to a filing with the BSE. Of these, provisions for bad loans were Rs 820 crore in Q3 of FY16, up from Rs 178 crore in corresponding quarter of FY15, bank officials said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to recognise weak assets early and make provisions in the third and fourth quarters. This has pushed the bill for provisions.

Net interest income (NII) declined by 12.79 per cent to Rs 1,322 crore in the reporting quarter from Rs 1,516 crore in Q3 of FY15. Non-interest income fell in Q3 of FY16 to Rs 422 crore from Rs 551 crore in the year-ago period. Global advances rose by 12 per cent to Rs 2,08,914 crore in December 2015 from Rs 1,86,630 crore a year ago.

Gross NPAs rose to 4.61 per cent in December 2015 from 3.6 per cent a year ago. Net NPA stood at 3.04 per cent, up from 2.38 per cent in December 2014.

The provision coverage ratio was 58.67 per cent in Q3 of FY16 down from 62.96 per cent in Q3 of FY15.

Capital adequacy ratio under Basel-III stood at 10.91 per cent in December 2015.