UCO Bank Q4 net profit jumps over 3-fold to Rs 312 cr as bad loans fall

State-owned UCO Bank on Friday posted an over three-fold jump in net profit at Rs 312.18 crore for the quarter ended March 2022 as a fall in bad loans lowered the provisioning requirement.

The lender had posted a net profit of Rs 80 crore in the corresponding quarter a year ago.

Total income during the fourth quarter of 2021-22 was, however, down at Rs 4,362 crore, as against Rs 4,637 crore in the year-ago period, UCO Bank said in a regulatory filing.

For the full fiscal FY22, the bank's net profit grew more than five times to Rs 930 crore from Rs 167 crore in FY21.

Total income during the year was at Rs 18,082 crore, up from Rs 17,870 crore in the preceding fiscal.

The lender brought down its bad assets portion significantly as the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) came in at 7.89 per cent by end of March 2022, as against 9.59 per cent by end of March 2021.

Value-wise, the gross NPAs fell to Rs 10,237 crore from Rs 11,352 crore.

Similarly, the net NPAs were down at 2.70 per cent (Rs 3,316 crore) from 3.94 per cent (Rs 4,390 crore).

Thus, the provisioning for tax and other contingencies also fell to Rs 466 crore in Q4 FY22 from Rs 982 crore earlier.

Besides, the Kolkata-headquartered lender said it is holding Rs 4,707.36 crore provisions (including technical write-offs) -- 100 per cent of the requirement for accounts covered under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

On prudential framework of resolution of stressed assets, the bank holds additional provision of Rs 702.32 crore in nine accounts, it added.

Stock of UCO Bank ended 3.98 per cent higher at Rs 11.49 apiece on BSE.