Bandhan Bank Q2 profit jumps 47% to Rs 4.9 billion; NPA up marginally

Net profit rose to Rs 4.88 billion for the quarter ended Sept. 30, from Rs 3.31 billion a year

Bandhan Bank Ltd posted a 47.3 per cent jump in second-quarter profit on Wednesday, helped by higher interest earned, and reports said the bank was looking at options to comply with Reserve Bank of India norms on shareholder stake.

The results come days after the RBI barred the Kolkata-based lender from opening new branches and froze its chief executive's salary for failing to bring down its main shareholder's stake to below 40 per cent.

Bandhan remains committed to maintaining compliance as per RBI norms, and there are three options available to bring down the shareholder's stake including an offer for sale, it was reported.

Net profit rose to Rs 4.88 billion ($65.8 million) for the quarter ended Sept. 30, from Rs 3.31 billion a year earlier, the bank said in a statement.

Interest earned rose 43.3 per cent to Rs 16.06 billion, while net interest margin, the difference between interest paid and earned - a key gauge of profitability, rose to 10.3 per cent.

"We expect the momentum to continue in the second half of FY 2018-19," said CEO Chandra Shekhar Ghosh in a statement.

Gross bad loans as a percentage of total loans stood at 1.29 per cent by end-September, compared with 1.26 per cent in the previous quarter and 1.43 per cent a year earlier.

Shares of Bandhan Bank rose as much as 7.1 per cent in afternoon trade.