UCO Bank net loss narrows to Rs 892 cr in Sept quarter

State-owned UCO Bank on Thursday reported narrowing of its net loss to Rs 891.98 crore for the second quarter ended September 30.

The bank had posted a net loss of Rs 1,136.44 crore during the corresponding quarter of the previous financial year.

Sequentially, the loss stood at Rs 601.45 crore in the previous quarter ended June.

The bank's total income during the September 2019 quarter increased to Rs 4,533.51 crore, compared with Rs 3,749.18 crore a year ago, the bank said in a regulatory filing.

Its asset quality continued to remain in bad shape as the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at 21.87 per cent (Rs 25,665.14 crore) of the gross loans at the end of September, against 25.37 per cent (Rs 29,581.49 crore) in the year-ago period.

Net NPAs came down to 7.32 per cent (Rs 7,238.33 crore) from 11.97 per cent (Rs 11,820.21 crore).

The provisioning for bad loans and contingencies spiked to Rs 2,099.02 crore for the quarter from Rs 1,642.54 crore a year ago.

Of this, the provisions for bad loans were Rs 2,034.07 crore, up from Rs 1,410.94 crore in the year-ago quarter.

During the July-September 2019 period, the central government infused Rs 2,130 crore by way of preferential allotment of equity shares and the amount was maintained under share application money pending allotment, UCO Bank said.

Also, the bank said it is currently in the process of evaluating the option under new tax rules as amended by the government and continues to recognise the taxes on income for the quarter and the half year ended September as per earlier provisions of the Income Tax Act, 1961.

"The bank has recognised deferred tax asset of Rs 8,086.37 crore on carry forward losses up to March 31, 2019. During the quarter, the bank has recognised deferred tax assets of Rs 542.47 crore," it said.

The non-performing loan provisioning coverage ratio is 81.19 per cent as on September 30, the bank said.

Shares of the bank on Thursday traded at Rs 14.47 on the BSE, up 5.39 per cent from the previous close.