Exim Bank net up marginally at Rs 726 crore

Exim Bank on Thursday reported a marginal increase in net profit at Rs 726 crore for FY15, up from Rs 710 crore in the previous financial year.

“Around 35 per cent of our portfolio is government-directed lending where I cannot change the profit margins. Secondly, the interest rate is moving down, so we have also been pressurised on the interest rate margins which we can charge to our customers. Lastly, our provisioning for NPAs (non-performing assets) is around 80 per cent which is much higher,” Chairman and Managing Director Yaduvendra Mathur said while explaining the reasons for lower profit.

The bank transferred Rs 433 crore to the government as return on capital, against Rs 339 crore a year ago. The government-run export credit agency’s total business grew 13 per cent to Rs 1,76,511 crore as of end-March, he said. Loan portfolio grew 15 per cent to Rs 86,953 crore from Rs 75,873 crore the previous year.

The non-funded portfolio also expanded 15 per cent to Rs 10,847 crore.

Exim Bank Deputy Managing Director David Rasquinha said the loan growth in the current financial year is likely to be at 15 per cent.

Gross non-performing assets stood at 2.94 per cent in FY15, while the net NPAs was at 0.60 per cent.
Exim Bank borrowed Rs 30,000 crore in the year and is likely to raise Rs 32,000 crore this fiscal.

During 2014-15, it raised foreign currency resources of around USD 9.02 billion, launched a 5-year Reg S Green bond of USD 500 million and issued a 10-year Samurai bond worth 20 billion yens.

The lender has also received board approval to increase its MTN (medium-term note) programme to USD 10 billion from USD 6.5 billion.

"We are opportunistic and we may raise the amount depending on which market is attractive at a particular point," Rasquinha said.

Exim Bank received Rs 1,300 crore of capital from the government and is likely to get a similar amount this year as well, taking its capital to risk assets ratio to 15.34 per cent.

The bank extended 17 LOCs (letters of credit) worth USD 1.7 billion in the reporting year.