Bank of India reports Q3 net profit of Rs 106 cr

Bank of India on Friday reported a net profit of Rs 106 crore for the third quarter ended December as against a net loss of Rs 4,738 crore, helped by better recoveries and stable asset quality.

The lender recovered Rs 1,700 crore from Essar Steel during the third quarter.

"Our recoveries, including from Essar Steel, helped improve our interest incomes. We are able to maintain our NPA numbers," the bank's managing director and CEO A K Das told reporters.

Recoveries during the quarter stood at Rs 6,462 crore, including Rs 1,700 crore from Essar Steel.

He said recovery in the fourth quarter is likely to be around Rs 2,600 crore.

The state-run bank's net interest income during the quarter rose 23.62 per cent to Rs 4,119 crore from Rs 3,332 crore in the year-ago quarter.

Domestic net interest margins (NIM) improved to 3.45 per cent from 3.02 per cent, while global NIM improved to 3.07 per cent from 2.55 per cent.

Gross NPAs remained stable at 16.30 per cent as compared with 16.31 per cent a year ago, while net NPAs stood at 5.97 per cent as against 5.87 per cent.

The bank sees its gross NPA improving to 15-15.5 per cent and net NPA to 5.62-5.75 per cent by March-end.

Slippages in December quarter increased to Rs 6,716 crore from Rs 4,315 crore, mainly due to three NBFCs accounts -- Dewan Housing Finance Ltd (DHFL), Reliance Commercial and Religare Finvest, Das said.

The lender has an exposure of Rs 4,200 crore to DHFL, Rs 500 crore to Religare Finvest and Rs 450 crore to Reliance Commercial Finance.

The bank expects its slippages to be below Rs 2,000 crore in March quarter.

Bank of India's capital to risk weighted assets ratio (CRAR) on a standalone basis stood at 14.20 per cent, while tier-1 capital stood at 11.17 per cent and tier-2 capital at 3.03 per cent.

The common equity tier (CET) ratio stood at 11.14 per cent.

The bank's domestic advances increased 6.71 per cent, while CASA deposits (domestic) grew 9.55 per cent.

Shares of Bank of India on Friday closed 2.57 per cent higher at Rs 67.75 apiece on the BSE.