Karnataka Bank Q4 net dives 92% as NPA provisioning swells

Karnataka Bank today reported 92 per cent slump in net profit at Rs 11 crore for the March quarter due to multi-fold jump in provisioning for bad assets.

During January-March 2016-17, the bank had made a net profit of Rs 138.37 crore.

The bank's provisioning for bad loans and contingencies was hiked over three-times to Rs 541.75 crore during March quarter as against Rs 160.40 crore in the year-ago period, Karnataka Bank said in a BSE filing.

Income during the quarter increased to Rs 1,737.55 crore as against Rs 1,606.19 crore earlier.

For the entire 2017-18, the bank said its net profit fell to Rs 325.61 crore as against Rs 452.26 crore. Income during the year was up at Rs 6,378.09 crore from Rs 5,994.74 crore.

Provisioning amount for the full year more than doubled at Rs 1,163.01 crore against Rs 527.85 crore in the preceding year.

Asset-wise, gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 4.92 per cent of the gross advances by the end of March 2018 from 4.21 per cent a year ago. In absolute value, gross NPAs were Rs 2,376.07 crore as against Rs 1,581.59 crore.

Net NPAs also increased to 2.96 per cent (Rs 1,400.51 crore) compared with 2.64 per cent (Rs 974.73 crore).

Karnataka Bank board has recommended dividend of Rs 3 per share for the year ended March 31, 2018.

The provision coverage ratio as at end-March 2018 stood at 54.56 per cent (54 per cent as on March 31, 2017).

On the divergence in asset classification and provisioning for NPAs for 2016-17, the lender showed a gap of Rs 1,115.10 crore in terms of gross NPAs. For net NPAs, the divergence came in at Rs 667.86 crore.

Thus, the divergence in NPA provisioning for the fiscal stood at Rs 472.50 crore.

The divergence with respect to bad loans, calculated on the basis of of figure reported by the bank and that assessed by RBI, led to an adjusted net loss of Rs 95 crore for 2016-17.

Otherwise, the bank had reported a net profit of Rs 452.26 crore for that financial year.

Stock of the bank closed 1.77 per cent down at Rs 110.75 a piece on BSE today.