UBI posts Rs 95.18 cr net profit in Q4

State-run United Bank of India (UBI) on Monday said it has posted a net profit of Rs 95.18 crore in the fourth quarter of the financial year 2018-19 (FY19), after seven quarters of consecutive losses.

The lender had reported a net loss of Rs 260.62 crore in the March quarter of the fiscal year 2017-18 (FY18).

According to a regulatory filing, the lender is also planning to raise equity capital not exceeding Rs 1,500 crore in one or more trenches during the current financial year by way of Qualified Institutions Placement (QIP), public or right issues or such other capital issues.

The Kolkata-headquartered lender earned an operating profit of Rs 540 crore in January-March quarter ofA FY19, registering a growth of 41 per cent on a quarter-on-quarter basis from Rs 383 crore in the third quarter of the last fiscal.A

Its net interest margin (NIM) improved to 2.43 per cent in Q4.

The lender's gross non-performing assets, in absolute term, stood at Rs 12,053.38 crore by end of the March quarter of FY19, down from Rs 14,737.61 crore by end December, 2018 while the net NPAs were at Rs 5,785.61 crore as on March 31, 2019, down from Rs 7,489.89 crore in December quarter end.AA

By end of the FY19, gross NPAs as a percentage of total loan was at 16.48 per cent, down from 21.27 per cent in December quarter and net NPAs as a percentage of total loans stood at 8.67 per cent, also down from 12.08 per cent from the quarter ended December 31, 2018.

The bank said provision for bad loans increased to Rs 1,927.10 crore in the quarter ended March, 31, 2019 from Rs 1,801.51 crore in December quarter.

The bank's capital adequacy ratio stood at Rs 13 per cent at the end of FY19, improving from 9.99 per cent in the December quarter.

Total business of the bank crossed Rs two lakh crore by end of the FY19 and the lender earned a total operating profit of Rs1,412 crore in FY19 as against Rs1,024 crore in FY18, showing a growth of 38 per cent on a year-on-year basis.

"In order to achieve sustained growth and profitability with sound asset base, the bank adopted differentiated banking approach with RAM focus (Retail-Agriculture-MSME) which is expected to reach 60 per cent of the bank's credit portfolio by 2020," the lender said.

The lender established 36 retail and MSME hubs across the country, dedicated to garner quality loan proposals in these segments.

--IANS

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