OBC Q4 profit rises marginally to Rs 310 cr

State-owned Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) today reported a marginal rise in net profit at Rs 310.30 crore for the quarter ended March, 2014 on account higher provision for bad loans.
The bank's net profit stood at Rs 307.94 crore in the year-ago period.
The net profit of bank recorded a flat growth due to rise in provision against bad debts and tax, OBC Chairman and Managing Director S L Bansal told reporters here.
The bank's provision for non-performing assets during the quarter rose to Rs 728.13 crore as compared Rs 498.64 crore in the same quarter of the previous fiscal.

Besides, there was tax provision of Rs 142.71 crore during the quarter as against the write back of Rs 120.19 crore in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal.
However, operating profit increased by 46.19 per cent to Rs 1,383.74 crore from Rs 946.53 crore in the same period of the previous fiscal.

The net interest income rose by 7.82 per cent to Rs 1,308.70 crore as compared to Rs 1,213.77 crore in the same quarter a year ago.
Net interest margin (NIM) improved to 2.78 per cent as against 2.72 per cent a year ago.
As far as asset quality of the bank is concerned, the gross NPAs as a percentage to total advances rose to 3.99 per cent from 3.21 per cent in the same quarter an year ago.

Its net NPAs went up to 2.82 per cent from 2.27 per cent at the end of March 2013.
The total income of the bank increased to Rs 5,655.36 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2014 from Rs 4,564.53 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2013, OBC said in a statement.
For the full-year ended March, the bank's net profit declined 14.2 per cent to Rs 1,139.41 crore from Rs 1,327.95 crore in 2012-13.
The bank expects 10 per cent increase in net profit over the last fiscal.
"We are targetting 10 per cent growth in net profit. This would take us closer to Rs 1,300 crore," he said.

Total income increased to Rs 20,962.75 crore for the entire year ended March 31, 2014, from Rs 19,359.49 crore in the previous fiscal.
The board of directors of the bank have proposed a final dividend of Rs 3.60 per share in addition to an interim dividend of Rs 4.00 for 2013-14.