Moneycontrol Bureau
Private sector lender South Indian Bank's third quarter (October-December) net profit climbed 10.2 percent year-on-year to Rs 141.3 crore, supported by improved asset quality, lower provisions and higher other income.
But net interest income, the difference between interest earned and interest expended, declined marginally to Rs 350.5 crore in the quarter ended December 2013 from Rs 352.6 crore in a year ago period due to higher expenses.
Total expenses jumped nearly 17 percent on yearly basis to Rs 1,118.86 crore in the third quarter on higher employee cost and other operating expenses.
Other income of the bank soared 27.9 percent to Rs 84.62 crore during the same period.
Asset quality
Gross non-performing assets as a percentage of gross advances fell 26 basis points sequentially (up 4 bps on yearly basis) to 1.66 percent while net NPAs declined 21 bps quarter-on-quarter (up 50 bps Y-o-Y) to 1.18 percent in the quarter gone by.
In absolute terms, gross NPAs dropped 10 percent to Rs 554.63 crore and net NPAs slipped 11 percent to Rs 391.93 crore on sequential basis. On yearly basis, however, these NPAs climbed 17 percent and 99.3 percent, respectively.
The reason for improvement in asset quality is that recoveries were greater than slippages in the quarter gone by, VA Joseph, MD and CEO said.
"Slippages were a little over Rs 100 crore and recoveries at Rs 160 crore," he added.
Provisions and contingencies plunged significantly to Rs 2 crore in the third quarter as against Rs 19.8 crore in earlier quarter and Rs 46 crore in corresponding quarter of last fiscal.
Capital adequacy ratio (as per Basel III norms) stood at 12.20 percent as against 12.97 percent quarter-on-quarter.
At 12:06 hours IST, the stock was trading at Rs 20.80, up 2.97 percent amid large volumes on the BSE.
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