DCB Q4 net doubles to Rs 34 cr on higher interest income

Moneycontrol Bureau

Private sector lender - Development Credit Bank on Friday kick-started the January-March earnings for banks. The bank's fourth quarter net profit  doubled from about Rs 17 crore to Rs 34 crore year-on-year driven by higher interest income. Net interest income or the difference between interests earned and paid out, shot up by 44% Y-o-Y to Rs 82 crore.

"Over the last 3 years we have almost doubled the Balance Sheet and Advances. We have crossed Rs. 10,000 Cr. Balance Sheet." Murali Natrajan, Managing Director & CEO – DCB said in a release.

The bank expanded its loan book about 25% Y-o-Y to Rs 6,590 crore. The non-food credit for the entire industry grew more than 14% Y-o-Y till the third week of March, FY13. However, DCB's higher loan growth is due to its lower base.

Net interest margin stood at 3.52% as against 3.12% in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Provisions and contingencies stood at Rs 24 crore compared with around Rs 29 crore a year back.

For the full year 2012-13, the bank's net profit spiked from Rs 57 crore to Rs 102 crore Y-o-Y. On bad asset front, the gross non-peforming asset (NPA) ratio improved sharply to 3.18% as against 4.40% recorded in FY12. However, the net NPA ratio rose marginally from 0.57% to 0.75% suggesting that provisions for bad loans were less compared to previous year.

NPAs are derived at after deducting provisions from gross NPAs.

Deposits grew 32% y-o-y to about Rs 8,360 crore. Retail deposits including current and savings accounts and term scheme constitued a majority share of 77% out of total deposits. The CASA ratio however, fell to 27.2% in FY13 compared with 32.10% recorded a year ago.

In a falling interest rate regime, the small bank is offering 9.30% and 9.80% to general and senior citizens respectively. Those rates look better when compared with the industry average.

saikat.das@network18online.com