Allahabad Bank reports net loss of Rs 12.64 bn in Q3 as bad loans rise

Provision for taxes and other contingencies rose by 169.32% to Rs 24.13 bn

Public sector lender Allahabad Bank posted a net loss of Rs 12.64 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2017 as compared to a net profit of Rs 0.75 billion in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year on account of higher provisions.

It's net interest income, which is the difference between interest earned and interest expended, grew by 13.83 per cent to Rs 13.47 billion during the quarter under review, as compared to Rs. 11.83 billion in same quarter last year. Other income, however, was down by 29.92 per cent at Rs. 5.12 billion as compared to Rs. 7.30 billion in the year-ago period.

Provision for taxes and other contingencies rose by 169.32 per cent to Rs 24.13 billion in the third quarter of the current fiscal year from the earlier Rs. 8.96 billion provision in the year-ago period.

The bank also received a tax write-back of Rs 2.28 billion during the Q3 period. In the year-ago quarter, it had a tax write-back of Rs 1.08 billion.

In terms of percentage of total loans, its gross non-performing assets (NPA) rose to 14.38 per cent on a sequential basis from the earlier 14.10 per cent and by 12.51 per cent on a year-on-year comparison. Net NPA was 8.97 per cent of the total loans in the December quarter compared to 8.84 per cent in the Q2 period and 8.65 per cent in the Q3 period of the last fiscal year.

At the end of the December quarter, the lender's gross NPA stood at Rs 232.61 billion; up by 21.84 per cent as compared to Rs 190.92 billion in the December quarter of the 2016-17 fiscal year.

It has convened an extraordinary general meeting on March 21, 2018 to take a call on preferential allotment of equity shares to the Central Government for infusion of Rs 15 billion into the bank, besides other discussions.

The Allahabad Bank scrip went down by 7.79% at Rs 56.25 on the BSE at the end of the day's trade.