Kolkata
Public sector lender Uco Bank on Friday reported a 20.38 per cent year-on-year decline in its net profit at ₹401.67 crore for the second quarter this fiscal as its operating profit fell more than 17% y-o-y during the period.
The Kolkata-headquartered lender’s net profit for the second quarter last fiscal stood at ₹504.52 crore. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, net profit rose 79% during Q2FY24 from ₹223.48 crore in Q1FY24, according to a stock exchange filing.
The bank’s operating profit for the quarter under review declined 17.47% y-o-y at ₹981.88 crore as its non-interest income fell 17.07% y-o-y due to lower treasury income.
“Treasury income came down to ₹ 57 crore in this quarter from ₹163 crore in Q2FY23 as there was mark-to-market loss due to increase in yield,” Uco Bank Managing Director and Chief Executive Office Ashwani Kumar said at a media conference.
SLR holdings
The MD and CEO said that the bank currently has an excess SLR holding of around ₹23,400 crore, and utilising a part of it to support credit growth is a favoured route instead of aggressively pricing deposits.
Gross advances grew 17.99% y-o-y to ₹16,7734 crore as on September 30, 2023, while total deposits were up by 6.07% y-o-y to ₹24,9411 crore as on September 30.
During the second quarter this fiscal net interest income (NII) rose 8.3% y-o-y at ₹ 1916.55 crore as against ₹1769.6 crore for the year-ago period. Domestic net interest margin (NIM) improved 8 basis points y-o-y at 3.05% from 2.97% during Q2FY23
Better domestic NIM
Domestic NIM for the half year ended September 30, 2023 stood at 3.12% as against 2.91% for the corresponding period ended 30, 2022, registering an improvement of 21 bps.
The lender’s bad loan provision for the quarter fell around 16% y-o-y at ₹ 335.81 crore during Q2FY24 from ₹400.27 crore during Q2FY23, as its asset quality improved. Gross NPA ratio during the quarter fell 244 bps y-o-y to 4.14% from 6.58% in the year-ago period.
Kumar said the bank is expecting around ₹400 crore recovery from two accounts, which are currently under the corporate insolvency resolution process.
Meanwhile, the bank has withdrawn a circular which had earlier asked branch officials to distribute sweets to top ten NPA accounts holders. “The intent behind that was to meet and greet. Distribution of sweets was not the intent. When I got to know of it, we took the decision (to withdraw the circular),” Kumar added.