DBS India returns to black, posts Rs 8.6 cr profit for FY16

Fall in other provisions was due to heavy reduction in money set aside to cover for write-offs to Rs 125.22 crore from Rs 436.66 crore in year-ago period

Singaporean lender DBS Bank Monday said it has returned to profitability in the country, posting a post tax net of Rs 8.6 crore for 2015-16 as against Rs 274.6 crore loss in the year-ago period.

However, the high asset quality stress which hurt its profitability in the year-ago period continued in 2015-16 as well, with net non-performing assets increasing to 4.34% of advances on March 31, 2016 from 4.15% earlier.

Provisions for non-performing assets went up nearly four-fold to Rs 239.75 crore from Rs 54.74 crore, but there was heavy fall in other provisions to Rs 170.95 crore from Rs 871.30 crore.

The fall in other provisions was on the back of a heavy reduction in the money set aside to cover for write-offs to Rs 125.22 crore from Rs 436.66 crore in the year-ago period, and zero provisions for diminution in fair value of restructured assets and loss of sale of NPAs (which had stood at Rs 16.17 crore and Rs 415 crore, respectively).

DBS Bank India CEO Surojit Shome called 2015-16 a "year of transition" for the core businesses and stressed that the bank, which had been recognising the stress for two previous fiscals, has benefitted by being "ahead of the curve".

The bank had earlier said that reverses on bets on infrastructure and construction space over the last four years had hurt its asset quality.

DBS Group CEO Piyush Gupta had recently said capital constraints in the bad assets-saddled domestic banks are an opportunity for it to grow in the country, which has been identified as strategically important.

The bank has pumped in Rs 667.5 crore in common equity tier-I capital during 2015-16, taking the total capital funds to Rs 6,168.9 crore.

"The capital infusion by DBS Group underlines the bank's commitment to India and its plan to convert into a wholly-owned subsidiary," the bank said in a statement, adding that it continues to await RBI's clearance on the matter.

The bank's total assets grew 22.1% to Rs 43,845 crore, while the deposits increased by 34.7% to Rs 23,427 crore on faster growth in current account balances.

The proportion of the low-cost current and saving account deposits stood at 8.1%as of end of the reporting period, marginally up from 7.8% a year ago.