Equitas SFB gross advances up 15% to Rs 20,648 cr in FY22; deposits up 16%

Equitas Small Finance Bank (SFB) on Wednesday said its gross advances witnessed a 15 per cent year-on-year growth on a provisional basis to Rs 20,648 crore for the fiscal ended March 2022.

The bank had gross advances worth Rs 17,925 crore in FY21.

Total deposits during 2021-22, grew by 16 per cent to Rs 18,951 crore, as against Rs 16,392 crore in FY21, it said in a regulatory filing.

Whereas, the bulk term deposits of the bank plunged by 59 per cent during the year under review at Rs 2,002 crore, while the retail term deposits were up by 21 per cent to Rs 7,093 crore.

Bank's CASA (current account and savings account) deposits rose by 76 per cent at Rs 9,855 crore in the fiscal ended March 2022, from Rs 5,614 crore in the year-ago period, it said.

For the lender, the cost of funds came down to 6.43 per cent during the year, as against 7.20 per cent in the year-ago period.

The cost of funds is the interest rate that financial institutions are paying on the funds they use in their business.

The numbers as released by the bank as of March 31, 2022 are provisional unaudited numbers and are subject to approval by the audit committee and board of directors, it added.

It is also subject to audit by the statutory auditors of the bank.

"Last quarter saw an all-around improvement on performance. With COVID-related disruptions mostly behind us, we are seeing customers' businesses generating healthy cash flows similar to their pre-COVID levels. This is helping not only better collection efficiencies but also greater demand for fresh credit.

"With a good growth in our deposit franchise, we should be well placed to support strong credit growth for the coming year," P N Vasudevan, Managing Director and CEO of Equitas Small Finance Bank said.

Shares of Equitas SFB were trading 1.28 per cent up at Rs 55.60 apiece on BSE.