DCB Q4 net up 52% at Rs 17 cr on robust loan growth

Moneycontrol Bureau

Private sector lender Development Credit Bank’s (DCB) fourth quarter (Jan-March) net profit climbed 52% year-on-year to Rs 17.3 crore on back of robust loan book that expanded 23% y-o-y to Rs 5,284 crore. For the full fiscal year, net profit rose nearly three-fold to around Rs 55 crore as against Rs 21 crore a year back.

During the year, net interest income or the difference between interest earned and spent rose more than 20% to Rs 228 crore. Net interest margin (NIM) stood at 3.25% as against 3.13% a year ago. The entire banking industry has seen a credit growth of around 16.80% y-o-y.

"We are growing MSME, SME and Retail Mortgages with a strong focus on quality,"Murali M. Natrajan, Managing Director & CEO, DCB said in a release.

"NIMs will be a challenge for the first few months of FY 2013 as a lot of term deposits are continuing to get re-priced upwards. Our aim would be to continue to steadily improve the performance of the Bank in the coming years."

The bank's deposit base grew at a slower pace 13% y-o-y at Rs 6,336 crore while its share of current account savings account (CASA) to total deposits fell from 35.21% to 32.12% in the FY12. CASA is a cheap source of funds for lenders who usually pay 0-4% rate of interest on it compared with 9%-12% in other instruments.

However, DCB has managed to improve its asset quality. Its gross non-performing asset (NPA) ratio dropped from 5.85% to 4.40% in the 12 month period. Net NPA ratio too fell from 0.96% to 0.57%. Provisions stood at Rs 29 crore as against Rs 65 crore in FY11.

DCB shares fell nearly 5% to close at Rs 48.15 at the end of Friday's trading.

saikat.das@network18online.com