Bank of Baroda posted a marginal rise in net profit for the third quarter ending December, 2013, at Rs 1,048 crore, up 4 per cent from Rs 1,012 crore in the year-ago quarter.
The public sector bank’s net profit moderated due to rise in bad loans and higher operation expenses and staff costs. Employee costs were up 32 per cent, while operating expenses increased 26 per cent.
Net interest income (difference between interest earned and expended) increased 8 per cent to Rs 3,057 crore (from Rs 2,841 crore in Q3FY13). Other income was up 11 per cent at Rs 932 crore (from Rs 841 crore).
Net interest margin (NIM) declined by 28 basis points to 2.37 per cent from 2.65 per cent in December last year.
NPAs higher
Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) stood at 3.32 per cent against 2.41 per cent in the yea-ago period.
Net NPAs also worsened to 1.88 per cent as on December, 2013 from 1.12 per cent as on December end 2012.
However, provisions (amount set aside to cover potential losses on loans) during the quarter were down 26 per cent to Rs 762 crore from Rs 1,029 crore in the same quarter last year.
Year-on-year, total advances grew 18 per cent to Rs 3.52 lakh crore, while total deposits were up 21.5 per cent at Rs 5.04 lakh crore. Advances were up on account of growth in retail (21 per cent) and small and medium sector enterprise (39 per cent) growth.
Bank of Baroda scrip ended weaker at Rs 537.75 per share, down 0.87 per cent over the previous close on the Bombay Stock Exchange.