Andhra Bank’s net profit increased four-fold to ₹202 crore in the third quarter ended December 2014 compared to ₹46 crore in the year ago period.
The decrease in cost of funds and increase in yield on advances pushed up profit. “Alternative liability sources other than deposits have been accessed at cheaper rates,’’ CVR Rajendran, Chairman and Managing Director, Andhra Bank, told news persons at a press conference here on Friday.
Net interest income increased to ₹1,259 crore (₹868 crore) while total business grew 11.3 per cent to ₹2.61 lakh crore. Net interest margin improved to 3.43 per cent ( 2.89 per cent).
Gross non-performing assets (NPAs) and net NPAs stood at 5.99 per cent (5.55 per cent) and 3.70 per cent (3.65 per cent) respectively.The bank was adversely affected by the delay in the roll-out of agricultural loan waivers in Andhra Pradesh due to problems such as multiple accounts. There are about ₹880 crore agriculture NPAs in the State.
Andhra Bank, which had raised ₹500 crore by issuing tier-I perpetual bonds recently, will raise another ₹500 crore from the market before the end of the quarter. It may also raise ₹1,000-1,500-crore capital in the first quarter of the next financial year.
The bank plans to open 200 branches in the next two months to take the total to 2,500 by March-end.
On Friday, Andhra Bank’s scrip gained 1.11 per cent to end at ₹91.15 on the BSE.