Indian Bank records Q4 standalone net at Rs 131.98 Cr

Public sector Indian Bank has registered a decline in its standalone net profit which stood at Rs 131.98 crore during the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2018 due to higher provisioning, a top bank official said today.

The city-headquartered bank had registered standalone net profit at Rs 319.70 crore in the year ago period.

For the financial year ending March 31, 2018, standalone net profit slipped to Rs 1,258.99 crore from Rs 1,405.67 crore registered during year ago period.

"Profit has come down in Q4 basically because of the one circular issued by Reserve Bank of India. And in almost all banks, the accounts which were under pressure due to withdrawal of reservation schemes (by government) were required to be downgraded. So the provisioning part came there," Indian Bank MD and CEO, Kishor Kharat told reporters.

The hardening of the bond market also occurred during the fourth quarter (January-March 31, 2018) of last financial year and there was pressure on the bank's profits, he said.

"We could absorb all those provisions and still we could show the profit. One more thing, profit on the investment on the other side was not there because of the hardening of the bond," he said.

Total income of the bank for the fourth quarter ending March 31, 2018 went upto Rs 4,954.20 crore from Rs 4,601.89 crore registered during same period of last year.

For the full year ending March 31, 2018 total income of the bank went upto Rs 5,113.15 crore from Rs 4,423.95 crore registered during year ago period.

Responding to a query on net slippages during the fourth quarter ending March 31,2018, he said, on quarter on quarter basis, bunch of the slippages were because of the RBI's circular issued on February 12.

"So, fresh slippages in last quarter was Rs 2,988 crore. All those slippages accounts which were under reservation..All the reservation mechanisms were withdrawn, those accounts were downgraded," he said.

On the bank's plan to control Non-Performing Assets, Kharat said, "We have shared our vision to bring down our net NPA to less than three per cent."
To another query, he said, the ability of the bank will improve, as the recoveries were expected from the accounts which were "under pressure."
Responding to a query on the capital raising plan, Kharat said, "We have already given our five year plan that we will be raising capital as and when required."