Vijaya Bank net drops 29% to Rs 97 crore in Q4

The drop is on account of higher provisions during the quarter, which went up by 11% to Rs 306 cr

Bengaluru-based public sector lender Vijaya Bank on Tuesday announced a 29 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 97 crore for the fourth quarter ended March, compared to Rs 136 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The total income for the quarter went up 12.4 per cent to Rs 3,406 crore, compared with Rs 3,029 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The drop in net profit was on account of higher provisions during the quarter, which went up by 11 per cent to Rs 306 crore as against Rs 276 crore in the year-ago quarter.

The bank also made a provision of Rs 208 crore towards an increase in salaries arising out of the 10th bipartite settlement with the Indian Banks’ Association but no provision has been made towards consequential increase in gratuity, pension and compensated absence liability.

“In the absence of the details of the increase under various components of salaries which is under discussion/determination, the amount of additional provision that may be required is indeterminate. The salary increase considered in actuarial valuation is sufficient to cover this increase,” Kishore Sansi, managing director & chief executive officer, said in a filing to the BSE.

The operating profit of the bank also declined by 6.3 per cent to Rs 312 crore, from Rs 333 crore in the year-ago quarter. The net interest income, though, went up by 18.2 per cent to Rs 623 crore as against Rs 527 crore a year ago.

Vijaya Bank’s percentage of gross non-performing assets during the quarter increased to 2.78 per cent from 2.41 per cent a year ago and the net non-performing assets was 1.92 per cent from 1.55 per cent a year ago.

During the March quarter, return on assets dipped to 0.28 per cent from 0.42 per cent a year ago.

The capital adequacy ratio under Basel-III during the quarter stood at 11.43 per cent from 10.56 per cent.

The bank’s shares ended the day’s trading at Rs 46 apiece, a drop of 2.22 per cent over the previous close.