Karnataka Bank Q4 net profit down 21% to Rs 106.7 cr

Private sector Karnataka Bank today reported a 21 per cent decline in net profit to Rs 106.7 crore for the March quarter, due to rise in bad loans.
The bank had posted a net profit of Rs 134.4 crore in the January-March period of the previous fiscal.
Total income of the bank declined to Rs 1,447.6 crore in the January-March quarter of the 2015-16 fiscal as against Rs 1,308 crore in the year-ago period.
Bank's provisioning towards bad loans and contingencies rose to Rs 112.5 crore for fourth quarter as against write-back of Rs 4.49 crore a year ago.
Asset quality slipped further with gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans increasing to 3.44 per cent of gross advances as of March from 2.95 per cent a year ago.

Net NPAs grew to 2.35 per cent of net advances in the January-March period as against 1.98 per cent in the same quarter last fiscal.

For the entire fiscal, the bank's net profit fell to Rs 415.2 crore compared with Rs 451.4 crore in the preceding fiscal.
Total income for the fiscal increased to Rs 5,535 crore from Rs 5,205.4 crore in financial year 2014-15.
The bank has recommended a final dividend of Rs 5 per equity share for 2015-16.