Bank of India Q3 beats forecast, profit up 12% to Rs 804 cr

Public sector lender Bank of India 's (BoI's) third quarter (October-December, 2012-13) net profit  rose to a forecast beating 12% year-on-year at Rs 803 crore, driven by growth in the net interest income. Other income coupled with lower tax expenses too added to the profit margin.

Other income increased 10% to about Rs 940 crore while the bank's tax expenditure more than halved to Rs 137 crore as against Rs 323 crore a year back.

During the quarter, net interest income (NII) or the difference between interest earned and paid out, rose by about 12% y-o-y to Rs 2,308 crore. Total loan book expanded 20% y-o-y to Rs 2.76 lakh crore. 

Analysts on an average were expecting profit after tax at Rs 754 crore and NII at Rs 2,285 crore for the quarter.

Gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio improved from 3.42% to 3.08% quarter-on-quarter while net NPA ratio stood at 1.97% as against 2.04% in the July-September quarter. Accordingly, provisions and contingencies fell from Rs 1,552 crore to Rs 916 crore during the same period.

The bank's deposit base climbed nearly 14% y-o-y to Rs 3.49 lakh crore.

At 13:30 hours IST, BoI shares were trading flat at Rs 364 on NSE after hitting intra-day hight at Rs 378 on a good quarterly performance.

saikat.das@network18online.com