UCO Bank reports net loss of Rs 11.36 billion in Q2 on rising bad loans

State-owned UCO Bank on Monday reported widening of net loss to Rs 11.36 billion for the second quarter of 2018-19, on rising bad loans.

The bank had registered a net loss of Rs 6.22 billion in the September quarter of 2017-18. In the June quarter this fiscal, the company's net loss stood at Rs 6.33 billion.

Total income also fell to Rs 37.49 billion in the reported quarter as against Rs 37.57 billion in the same period of 2017-18, the bank said in a BSE filing.

The bank's asset quality worsened as the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) soared to 25.37 per cent of the gross advances as on September 30, 2018 as against 19.74 per cent by the end of September 2017.

Net NPAs were 11.97 per cent as compared to 9.98 per cent in the year-ago period.

In absolute terms, gross NPAs or bad loans stood at Rs 295.81 billion at end-September 2018 as against Rs 244.34 billion earlier. Net NPAs rose to Rs 118.20 billion from Rs 110.08 billion.

Due to mounting NPAs, the bank hiked the provisions for bad loans to Rs 14.10 billion during the reported quarter, up from Rs 13.23 billion in the year-ago period.

The non-performing loan provisioning coverage ratio is 67.61 per cent as on September 30, 2018, UCO Bank said.

Stock of the bank closed 4.27 per cent down at Rs 20.20 on BSE.