Bad assets spike leads Dena Bank to Rs 662 cr loss in Q3

State-run Dena Bank today reported a net loss of Rs 662.85 crore for the quarter ended December on account of increase in bad loans and higher provisioning.
The bank had reported a net profit of Rs 76.56 crore in the same period last fiscal.
"Non performing loans remain a cause of concern. There was an increase in provision for NPAs by Rs 807 crore as against the same period last year due to fresh slippages during the third quarter," the bank's Chairman and Managing Director Ashwani Kumar told reporters here.
The bank saw Rs 2,900 crore worth of loans slipping into NPA category. Of this, Rs 2,500 crore worth of loans were from accounts above Rs 10 crore.

Gross NPA ratio rose to 9.85 per cent from 5.61 per cent in the same quarter last fiscal, while net NPAs increased to 6.68 per cent from 3.97 per cent earlier.
"We have created a team of 10 officials under an executive director which would be closely monitoring the stressed loans and will step up efforts to recover them," Kumar said.

The bank recovered Rs 222 crore of loans during the October-December period.
During the quarter, the bank invoked strategic debt restructuring for three accounts worth Rs 240 crore.
It sold Rs 282 crore of bad loans to asset reconstruction companies.

The bank's operating profit declined to Rs 182.47 crore as compared to Rs 319.90 crore due to reversal of interest amounting to Rs 139 crore and increase in staff costs.
Net interest margin (NIM) stood at 2.02 per cent the bank is targetting to take it to 2.5-2.6 per cent in the fourth quarter, Kumar said.
Total business as on December 31 stood at Rs 1,90,724 crore as compared to Rs 1,82,263 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.
Deposits rose to Rs 1,10,318 crore compared to Rs 1,06,907 crore, while advances grew by 6.70 per cent to Rs 80,406 crore from Rs 75,356 crore.

The bank scrip shed 12.10 per cent to close at Rs 31.25 a piece on the BSE, as against a 1.10 per cent correction in the benchmark.