Vijaya Bank Q3 net plunges 91%

Total income for quarter went up 21.9% to Rs 2,874.60 cr as against Rs 2,357 cr in year-ago period

Bangalore-based public sector lender Vijaya Bank on Monday reported a massive decline of 91 per cent in net profit at Rs 11.39 crore for the third quarter, compared with Rs 126.73 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

The total income for the quarter went up 21.9 per cent to Rs 2,874.60 crore as against Rs 2,357 crore in the year-ago period. The operating profit for the quarter was also down 35.7 per cent to Rs 167.72 crore from Rs 260.85 crore in the December quarter of 2012-13.

“The rise in operating expenses towards wage revision and salary arrears, as well as provisions for mark-to-market losses dragged down our profits during the third quarter,” said a senior official of the bank.

The bank’s wage costs have gone up by 43.4 per cent to Rs 297 crore during the third quarter, compared with Rs 207 crore a year ago. The bank’s net interest income recorded a moderate growth of 8.5 per cent to Rs 494.72 crore against Rs 455.77 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Capital to risk-weighted assets ratio is at 10.78 per cent (Basel-III) with tier-I ratio at 8.11 per cent and tier-II ratio at 2.67 per cent. Net non-performing asset (NPAs) ratio improved 1.57 per cent from 1.71 per cent in the corresponding period last year. The return on assets dipped to 0.4 per cent in December quarter from 0.52 per cent in the year-ago period. The bank received an additional capital aggregating to Rs 250 crore from the government and raised tier-II bonds of Rs 250 crore in December.

The Bank is in the process of converting the Perpetual Non-Cumulative Shares aggregating to Rs 1,200 crore held by the government into equity capital to improve the Common Equity Tier I capital. Post conversion, the government holding in the Bank will go up to 74.06 per cent from the present level of 59.80 per cent.

The Bank's stock declined 1.35 per cent to Rs 36.65 per share at the close of trading on Bombay Stock Exchange on Monday.