Parthasarathi Mukherjee, MD & CEO, Lakshmi Vilas Bank in an interview to CNBC-TV18 spoke explicitly of their fourth quarter performance and outlook going forward.
He said slippages for the quarter stood at Rs 273 crore but also recovery and upgradations to the tune of Rs 182 crore, so the net number slippage was Rs 91 crore. One large account of Rs 95 crore in edible oil industry slipped in the fourth quarter.
The private sector lender reported a 6.3 percent rise in net profit at Rs 52.16 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, compared to Rs 49.07 crore during the January-March period of 2015-16.
The bank's gross non-performing assets (NPAs) or bad loans rose to 2.67 percent as on March 31, 2017 from 1.97 percent on March 31, 2016 (rpt) 2016. Net NPAs were 1.76 percent of net advances compared to 1.18 per cent.
Mukherjee said for FY18 the gross NPAs will be around 2.8 percent in a worst-case scenario because it is largely a function of loan book growth and in FY17 the growth was not much. However, he is optimistic of loan growth returning on the back of some good signs witnessed in March 2017.
Last year was a year of consolidation for the bank, said Mukherjee, which saw huge changes in strategies. The impact of that will be witnessed in FY18, so likely that growth will be substantially faster than the system.
For full interview, watch video
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