Listed commercial banks may post 5.5% rise in third quarter net profit

Still in the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic, listed commercial banks may report a 5.5 per cent increase (year-on-year or YoY basis) in net profit for the third quarter ended December 2020 (Q3 of FY21).

Their net revenues could expand by just about 1.8 per cent in the reporting period, according to Bloomberg estimates.

The estimates indicate that private sector lenders will show better performance than public sector banks (PSBs). Many PSBs are still occupied in managing the process of amalgamation which set in on April 1, 2020. The sharp cuts in interest rates, restructuring and the challenges of deploying huge surplus