Axis Bank shares down over 4% post disappointing earnings

Shares of Axis Bank today fell by over 4 per cent after the company reported a steep 21 per cent decline in net profit for the three months to June.
The stock went down 4.19 per cent to Rs 515 on BSE.
At NSE, it lost 3.57 per cent to Rs 518.50.
Axis Bank had on Friday reported a steep 21 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 1,555.5 crore for the three months to June, roiled by a more than doubling of its bad loan provisions, higher operating expenses (opex) towards branch expansion and the resultant salary outgo.

It had earned a net profit of Rs 1,978.44 crore in the April-June quarter of the last fiscal, Axis Bank had said in a statement.
"Decline in profit is driven by slippages from the watch list, which led to a rise in both gross NPA as well as net NPA levels to 2.54 per cent and 1.08 per cent, respectively, in the reporting quarter.
"Another reason for the dip in profit is the higher salary outgo and investment into branches which led to a 23 per cent increase in operating expenses," Deputy Managing Director V Srinivasan had said in a post-earnings concall.

Gross NPA in absolute term more than doubled to Rs 9,553 crore from Rs 4,251 crore as of end June. Of this, NPA provisions stood at Rs 1,823 crore as against Rs 1,046 crore a year ago and Rs 906 crore in the March quarter of last fiscal.