Vijaya Bank net up 5.5% to Rs 144 crore in Q2

The Bank plans to raise Rs 600 crore via QIP issue in January

Aided by increase in yield on advances and improvement in asset quality, the Bangalore-based public sector lender Vijaya Bank today reported 5.5% growth in net profit at Rs 144 crore for the second quarter ended September 2014 compared to Rs 136 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

The total income for the quarter went up 16% to Rs 3,254 crore as against Rs 2,814 crore in the year ago period. The operating profit was higher by 12% at Rs 306 crore from Rs 273 crore in the year ago quarter.

The Bank's provisions towards non-performing assets were up 16% to Rs 153 crore as against Rs 132 crore. The Bank witnessed fresh slippage of Rs 731 crore during the quarter, which includes Rs 300 crore from two accounts in the telecom sector that had gone through the restructuring process, said V Kannan, chairman and managing director, Vijaya Bank.

"During the second quarter, there was no visible demand for credit from corporate sector as no new Greenfield or brownfield investments took place. We do not see any demand from the sector even in the third quarter too," he said.

The Bank has seen its yield on advances going up by 35 basis points during the second quarter at 11.61% compared to the first quarter.

"My yield on advances went up by 35 basis points and NIM went up by nine basis points. However, the cost of deposits was not in my control. For one year deposits, it stood at 9% in the industry. We managed to increase our yields," Kannan said.

Advances for the quarter increased by 9.95% to Rs 78,540 crore, while deposits grew by 14% to Rs 1.07 lakh crore. For the full year ending March 2015, the Bank expects a credit growth of 14%, he said.

Its return on assets stood at 0.43% from 0.46% in the September quarter of 2013.

The Bank managed to contain net NPAs at 1.88% the provision coverage ratio stood at 63.10%. The capital to risk weighted assets ratio is at 10.21% under Basel-III with Tier-I ratio at 8.01% and Tier-II at 2.20%. The Bank has raised Rs 500 crore in October through issue of Tier-II compliant bonds.

The Bank has also received all approvals from the RBI and government for coming out with a QIP issue to raise Rs 600 crore in the fourth quarter, Kannan said.

The Bank's scrip closed 0.31% lower at Rs 48.90 per share on BSE.