Axis Bank, in January-March quarter, has set aside Rs 1,300 crore of provisioning against self-identified stressed assets, over and above the regulatory norm, as part of its new “conservative” approach under the new leadership.
“In the corporate book, we have systematically increased the standard provisioning by following a formula-based approach for putting aside provisioning on weak standard assets with no subjectivity involved,” said Amitabh Chaudhry, MD & CEO, Axis Bank.
This includes provisioning against “some self-identified stressed sectors and a large non-banking finance company account,” the management said while announcing the fourth quarter results on April 25.
The bank said Rs 300 crore of its total exposure to IL&FS has been classified as a non-performing asset (NPA), while “significant” amount of provisioning was made against it in the fourth quarter.
On April 24, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) asked lenders to disclose their exposure to IL&FS and its group entities, in their notes to financial statements. RBI said banks must disclose details like the total exposure that are NPAs as per Income Recognition and Asset Classification (IRAC) norms but have not been classified as NPA.
Chaudhry, who took over the reins in January 2019, said the bank has reoriented its entire organisational structure in both retail and wholesale businesses, in order to streamline and simplify the bank’s functioning.
“On the liabilities side, the dedicated focus is on acquiring and servicing deposit customers. In the retail lending business, the team is now organised in a product-focused structure and into a smaller but larger number of regions,” he said.
The bank aims to achieve credit growth at 500-700 basis points higher than the banking system in the current financial year. Also, its net interest margins are likely to remain stable with an upside bias, the bank’s CFO Jairam Sridharan said.
Axis Bank posted a profit of Rs 1,505 crore for the quarter ended March 2019, on better asset quality and a decline in slippages.
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