Indian Bank Q4 Net up over 3-fold on lower bad loan provision

New Delhi: State-owned Indian Bank has reported an over three-fold jump in standalone net profit at Rs 319.70 crore for the last quarter ended March due to lower provisioning for bad loans. Bank's net profit in the corresponding quarter of 2015-16 was at Rs 93.62 crore.

Total income in the reported quarter increased marginally to Rs 4,601.89 crore against Rs 4,522.73 crore, the bank said in a regulatory filing. Also, provision for bad loans or non-performing assets (NPAs) were trimmed to Rs 608.42 crore from Rs 967.50 crore a year ago, as per the balance sheet of the lender.

Even though there was an uptick in Indian Bank's gross NPAs to 7.47 per cent of the gross advances as at the end of March 31, 2017 from 6.66 per cent a year ago. Net NPAs or bad loans were 4.39 per cent of the net advances, slightly up from 4.20 per cent year earlier.

In absolute value, gross NPAs were at Rs 9,865.14 crore at the end of 2016-17, from Rs 8,827.04 crore in 2015-16. Likewise, net NPAs were of the order of Rs 5,606.57 crore, up from Rs 5,419.40 crore. At the board meeting held today, the bank also recommended a dividend of Rs 6 per share for 2016-17.

"The equity dividend, if declared at the ensuing Annual General Meeting, will be paid within 30 days from the date of the Annual General Meeting," the bank said. Shares of Indian Bank were trading 9.59 per cent up at Rs 312.50 on BSE.