Kotak Bank Q4 Net jumps 38% to Rs 913 cr on other income

Private sector Kotak Mahindra Bank today reported a 37.70 per cent jump in consolidated net profit for the three months to March at Rs 913 crore, boosted by a doubling of non-interest income.
The Uday Kotak-led lender, which took over the South- focused ING Vysya Bank last month in a Rs 15,000-crore all stock deal, said its consolidated income rose 29 per cent to Rs 6,172.26 crore in the fourth quarter ended March 31.
Core net interest income rose 16 per cent to Rs 1,123 crore, but it was the non-interest side which helped drive up the profit for the Kotak Group.

Other income nearly doubled (a full 94%) to Rs 1,018.10 crore on a consolidated basis from the year ago period's Rs 524.70 crore.
On a standalone basis, the bank's net profit shot up 29.4 per cent to Rs 527.14 crore from Rs 407.1 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 2014, while total income rose to Rs 3,249.08 crore from Rs 2,552.96 crore a year ago.
For the entire fiscal, consolidated net profit rose 23.5 per cent to Rs 3,045.45 crore from Rs 464.99 crore on an income of Rs 21,422.75 crore, up from Rs 17,235.63 crore.

On a standalone basis, net profit for FY15 increased 24.1 per cent to Rs 1,865.98 crore from Rs 1,502.52 crore and income improved to Rs 11,748.32 crore from Rs 10,166.83 crore.

Chief Financial Officer Jaimin Bhat said the other income included gains by mutual fund business where buoyancy in the markets has attracted new investors, and other parts of the business like insurance commission, debt capital market fees etc which witnessed healthy volume upticks.
Decline in interest rates helped boost treasury income to Rs 166.31 crore from Rs 27.22 crore a year ago, he said.
Executive Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Uday Kotak said only tractors and construction equipment sectors witnessed some pressure during the fiscal gone by and the bank witnessed healthy performance on all other lines.
The decision to go slow on the construction equipment three years ago has paid off as the fourth largest private lender has been able to maintain asset quality, he said.

Kotak felt the bank is near the bottom in this segment a well as commercial vehicles segment, which had witnessed some issues in the past.
Heavy commercial vehicles finacing will see more pick up, which will be followed by the light CVs, Kotak said.