Syndicate Bank advances grow 19 per cent in Q3

Syndicate Bank has recorded a 19 per cent growth in advances during the third quarter at Rs 1,86,630 crore compared to Rs 1,57,378 crore in the same quarter last year. The domestic advances during the quarter increased 19 per cent to Rs 1,48,825 crore, up from Rs 1,24,735 crore a year ago. The yield on advances dipped to 9.42 per cent from 9.69 per cent a year ago.

Advances to the agriculture sector witnessed the highest growth rate at 20 per cent and the bank extended Rs 23,792 crore to the sector as against Rs 19,825 crore in the year ago period. The lowest growth took place in the retail credit, which grew by a mere 3 per cent to Rs 21,090 crore from Rs 20,530 crore a year ago.

During the quarter, the bank’s global business has shown a year-on-year growth of 24.3 per cent to Rs 4,38,099 crore from Rs 3,52,498 crore. The total global deposits stood at Rs 2,51,469 crore, a growth of 29 per cent. The domestic CASA (current account savings account) deposits grew 19 per cent to Rs 62,445 crore compared to Rs 52,324 crore in December quarter of FY14. The cost of deposits stood at 6.78 per cent.  

However, the bank’s net profit for the third quarter declined 20 per cent to Rs 305 crore compared to Rs 380 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. The operating profit of the bank recorded a marginal growth of 4 per cent to Rs 838 crore as against Rs 806 crore a year ago. The drop came mainly due to decline in net interest income, which stood at Rs 1,317 crore, showing a fall of 3 per cent year on year. Its provisions went up 25 per cent to Rs 533 crore from Rs 426 crore a year ago.

Capital adequacy ratio under Basel-III declined to 10.46 per cent from 11.26 per cent in the December quarter last year. The return on assets declined to 0.44 per cent from 0.68 per cent a year ago. The percentage of net non-performing assets increased to 2.38 per cent from 1.66 per cent in the year ago quarter. The percentage of gross NPA went up to 3.60 per cent from 2.80 per cent a year ago. The gross NPAs increased by 53 per cent to Rs 6,724 crore during the third quarter.