IFCI Q3 net up 15pc at Rs 154 cr on higher interest income

Infrastructure term lending firm IFCI Ltd today said its net profit rose by 15 per cent to Rs 154 crore for the third quarter of 2015-16 on higher interest income and lower cost of funds.
Company's net profit stood at Rs 134 crore for the October-December quarter of previous fiscal 2014-15.
Total income of the company increased to Rs 947.15 crore for the quarter ended December 2015, from Rs 848.81 crore in the similar period a year ago.
Of this, operational income constituted Rs 897 crore, up 8 per cent from Rs 834 crore last year, IFCI Chief Executive Officer and MD Malay Mukherjee told reporters at a press conference here.

"Almost on all parameters, IFCI has done reasonably well for the quarter amidst in a very difficult situation. This (rise in net profit) was due to higher interest income and lower interest expenses", Mukherjee said.
The net interest income for the current quarter was Rs 237 crore, up from Rs 148 crore for year ago period.

Besides, the company also cut down on its bad loans with the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) standing at 9.7 per cent of the gross advances during the quarter under review, from 10.28 per cent in the year ago period.
Net NPAs too reduced to 6.8 per cent from 7.18 per cent.

Commenting on the asset quality, Mukherjee said: "Reduction in NPAs is a continues process. I would say there is a stress in the economy. We feel that we can still reduce our NPAs by a few percentage by March. Over the nine months we have done reasonably well to reduce the NPAs".
For the nine months ended December of the current fiscal, company's sanctions and disbursements were at Rs 8,840 crore and Rs 5,790 crore respectively as against Rs 6,767 crore and Rs 5,325 crore in the corresponding period of previous year.
The company expects a credit growth of Rs 400-500 crore by March, when the current fiscal comes to an end.

Shares of the company today closed at Rs 21.20 apiece on BSE, up 1.19 per cent from previous level.