Bank of India expects to be profitable by September-end

State-run lender Bank of India, which incurred losses for two consecutive financial years, is hopeful of turning profitable by the end of the second quarter ending September of the current fiscal, its MD and CEO Dinabandhu Mohapatra said on Saturday.

The lender narrowed down the net losses from Rs 6,089.21 crore in 2015-16 to Rs 1,558.34 crore by end of 2016-17.

"We are hopeful that the bank will be able to make profit by September end unless anything unforeseen happens," Mohapatra told reporters here.

He said though the bank incurred losses in the last two years, but its operating profit remained strong and its provision coverage ratio stood at around 62 per cent for covering up the bad loans.

On the bank's exposure into the 12 large NPA (non performing asset) accounts identified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), he said: "We have exposure in 10 accounts, out of 12. Our exposure would be around Rs 7,000-8,000 crore."

The RBI had identified 12 large accounts with exposure of more than Rs 5,000 crore and more than 60 per cent of which is recognised as NPAs. Banks have to refer to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) for these accounts.

According to Mohapatra, the lender was looking to bring down gross NPA level by means debt resolutions under IBC, upgradation of stressed assets and One-time settlement (OTS) of dues by defaulters.

"For soft NPAs, we will be looking to upgrade it to standard category, while for hardcore NPAs we will try OTS, among other means. We are also looking for selling of some of our non-core assets," he said.

At the end of January-March quarter of last fiscal, lender's gross NPA in absolute term stood over Rs 52,000 crore, with gross NPA ratio at 13.22 per cent.

--IANS

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