Private sector lender Axis Bank has made a net profit of ₹701 crore in the quarter ended June 30, 2018, recovering from its first-ever loss in the fourth quarter of last fiscal on the back of improved asset quality.

Its net profit was, however, down 43.6 per cent in the first quarter of the fiscal, against ₹1,305.60 crore a year ago.

The country’s third-largest private sector bank by assets had reported a net loss of ₹2,188.74 crore in the quarter ended March 31, 2018.

Sounding an optimistic note, Axis Bank Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director Shikha Sharma said the significant acceleration in bad loans after the Reserve Bank of India’s February 12 circular are now stabilising. “We are not seeing any new stress emerging,” she said after the results, adding that there are gradual signs of the beginning of a recovery cycle.

The bank reported an 11.73 per cent increase in total income to ₹15,702.01 crore during the April-June quarter of the current fiscal, compared to ₹14,052.30 crore in the year-ago period. Its net interest income grew by 12 per cent to ₹5,167 crore in the first quarter of the fiscal against ₹4,616 crore a year ago.

Its net interest margin was at 3.46 per cent for the quarter under review.

Other income (comprising fee, trading profit and miscellaneous income) for the first quarter fell by 2 per cent to ₹2,925 crore, against ₹ 3,000 crore during the same period last year.

“It has been a quarter of turning around from red to black,” said Jairam Sridharan, CFO, Axis Bank, adding that the pool of slippages has shrunk significantly. “We are at the last phase of asset recognition in our corporate book and expect one more quarter before recovery,” he said.

The lender’s gross non-performing assets amounted to ₹32,662.40 as on June 30, 2018, or 6.52 per cent of gross advances. While this is higher than 5.03 per cent as on June 30, 2017, it has improved from 6.77 per cent as on March 31, 2018.

Similarly, net NPAs, or bad loans, increased to 3.09 per cent of advances by June-end, from 2.30 per cent a year earlier and 3.40 per cent as on March 31, 2018.

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