Central Bank of India's net profit rises 28% on non-core income growth

NII falls 4% as rise in yield on advances; margins contract

State-owned Central Bank of India posted a 28.13 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y) rise in its profit for the quarter ended March, at Rs 1,033.6 crore compared to Rs 807.3 crore a year earlier, on the back of a rise in non-interest income and a fall in provisions.

 

Non-interest income rose 33.19 per cent to Rs 1,814 crore, with fee income growing 34.16 per cent to Rs 597 crore and treasury income rising by 12.05 per cent to Rs 409 crore.

 

A fall in provisions from Rs 1,257 crore to Rs 807 crore on a Y-o-Y basis also aided the bank’s profit.

 

The net interest income – the difference between interest earned and interest expended – fell 4 per cent to Rs 3,399 crore, mainly due to a sharp fall in yield on advances, down 37 basis points Y-o-Y to 8.54 per cent. Cost of funds went up by 7 basis points to 4.92 per cent.

 

As a result, the net interest margin fell 41 basis points Y-o-Y to 3.17 per cent for the January-March period.

 

On the asset quality front, the gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio improved to 3.18 per cent of gross advances, registering an improvement of 132 basis points over 4.50 per cent. Further, the net NPA ratio improved to 0.55 per cent, registering an improvement of 68 basis points over 1.23 per cent. At the same time, the provision coverage ratio (PCR) stood at 96.54 per cent, with an improvement of 296 basis points on a Y-o-Y basis.

 

The capital adequacy ratio of the bank also improved to 17.02 per cent (with common equity tier-1 ratio of 14.73 per cent) as on March 31, 2025, registering a growth of 194 basis points Y-o-Y.

 

Total deposits increased 7.19 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 4.13 trillion in March. The share of current and savings account deposits, however, fell to 48.91 per cent as of March-end as compared to 50.02 per cent a year ago.

 

Gross advances increased 15.24 per cent Y-o-Y to Rs 2.9 trillion as on March 31. The state-owned lender’s RAM (retail, agriculture and MSME) business grew by 16.13 per cent, while home loans grew by 18.4 per cent.