RBL Bank's deposit base sees about 8 pc reduction in Jan-Mar

RBL Bank on Wednesday said it has witnessed a reduction of under 8 per cent in the deposit base in March quarter as government bodies became more averse to parking money with private sector lenders following the Yes Bank crisis.

The city-based bank, which has seen a massive erosion in its stock price recently, however, asserted that it is doing well across all business parameters.

The crisis at Yes Bank had triggered scares on the health of private sector lenders and led to deposit withdrawals. The Reserve Bank had to step in and assure depositors, including state governments like Maharashtra that had gone public with their plans to shift money, not to do so.

In a special statement issued before the announcement of quarterly results for the January-March period, RBL Bank said there have been "run-offs" in the deposit base of under 8 per cent.

"Reduction (is) essentially in bulk deposits from government entities/corporations," the bank said in the statement issued after market hours.

While the asset quality has been marked as "stable", the bank accepted that there has been an increase in slippages in the wholesale small and medium enterprises segment on account of stress and inability to collect in the last few days because of the lockdown.

However, overall, it expects lower slippages in March quarter as compared to the December quarter, the release said, adding there is no material change in guidance on asset quality position given after the December results.

RBL Bank said it will focus on balance sheet protection, reducing the reliance on wholesale advances and launching new retail products like a secured home product which has already been pilot tested.

The bank said its operating profits have been "stable" when compared to the preceding quarter and have grown in a healthy way when compared with the year-ago period.

This, the bank said, is reflective of the franchise strength and its strong earning capacity despite economic slowdown and shutdown in the last few days.

Without divulging the exact numbers, it said net interest margins are at an all-time high on lower cost of funds and deposits.

It is also well capitalised with a capital adequacy ratio of 16 per cent, including a core tier-I ratio at 15 per cent, the bank said.

On the COVID-19 crisis, the bank said the business continuity plan has been started since last month and added that it will not be impacted a lot because exposure to sectors such as aviation, hospitality, transport/logistics, organised retail is low.

On credit cards business, it said new acquisition has been stopped post the lockdown and it expects a dip in usage in March due to the lockdown and also an increase in credit cost for March and April as collection suffers.

For micro lending segment, the bank said collections for March were completed in the early part itself and it has adopted a cautious approach even though there are no infections in rural India as yet.

The bank's scrip closed 3.17 per cent lower at Rs 131.35 apiece on the BSE on Wednesday.