YES Bank net profit up 33%

Private sector lender YES Bank on Tuesday said its net profit for the quarter ended December 31 rose 33 per cent to Rs 254 crore from Rs 191 crore a year ago. Higher interest income from advances, growth in non-interest income and lower provisions aided the growth in earnings.

Net interest income, or the difference between interest income and interest expenditure, grew 32 per cent year-on-year to Rs 428 crore during the quarter. Net interest margin narrowed 10 basis points sequentially to 2.8 per cent, as cost of deposits increased, driven by a rise in the lender's savings deposit and non-resident deposit rates.

YES Bank offers the highest rate on savings deposits among all banks. It offers six per cent on deposits up to Rs 100,000 and seven per cent above Rs 100,000.

"The increase in the savings account rate and the alignment of fixed deposit rates for non-resident Indians with domestic fixed deposit rates are clear competitive differentiators, and these would facilitate achieving our Version 2.0 liability goals, evidenced by robust momentum in Casa (current account and savings account) during the quarter," said founder, managing director and chief executive, Rana Kapoor.

The share of Casa deposits in total deposits improved to 12.6 per cent as of December-end from 11 per cent a quarter ago.

Total deposits rose 19 per cent year-on-year to Rs 46,929 crore, while advances increased 15 per cent to Rs 35,868 crore, compared to a year ago.

The bank’s asset quality improved, with both gross and net bad loan ratios declining marginally from a year earlier. The bank ended the quarter with a capital adequacy ratio of 16.1 per cent.